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Dr L. W. de LAURENCE 



'The Immanence of God" 
"Know Thyself " 

"God [The Soul] and 
The Man" 

'TheBookofSglf" [God] 

' 'Faith" [The Primary Will] 

As Taught by ''Jesus the Master" 
By DR. L. W. de LAURENCE 



THE MASTERS TEMPLE 

DR. L. W. de LAURENCE 

Illustrious Master 



*'Text Book" of 

THK CO^^GRfiSS OF ANCIENT. DIVINE, MENTAL AND 
CHRISTIAN MASTERS." 











de LAURENCE, SCOTT & COMPANY 
Masonic Temple, Chicago, III. 









"S^^ 






Two OGpiet? H-x^cived 

SEC II 1908 

•rt«r.i7,l1iy 

COPY d. ' 



Copyright, 1908, by 

DR. L. W. de LAURENCE 

Electrotyped and Published 
October, 1008 



NOTICE- —This work is protected by Copyright, and simultaneous initial 
publications in United States of America, Great Britain, France, Ger- 
many, liussia and other countries. All rights reserved. 






ii 



r 



^ 







«8 

^ BSSS O those who desire to 







cultivate and in- 
crease their individ- 
ual Self- Consciousness, and 
thereby get a true perception 
and realization of God, the 
Force and Power within 
them, this volume is dedi- 
cated by the Author, 



6 



2 S 



r. 
















HE author of this book, Dr. L. 
W. de Laurence, 15 14 Mason- 
ic Temple, Chicago, Illinois, 
U. S. A., invites communications from 
those who wish to aid and see the 
original teachings of ^^The Master 
Jesus'' re-established in harmony with 
the laws of Self (God) and the common 
duties of morality. 



He wishes to reunite, on one broad 
basis, all those whose faith has been 
shaken by the prevailing doctrines of 
Dogmatic Theology and Superstition 
and who, disbelieving in the "church," 
desire to know the real and true God 
within the Temple (themselves). 



The author believes that there are 
millions of good sincere men and 
women who want to meet on a common 
center to establish, in every city and 
town, a "Master's Temple'* for the be- 
lievers in the "Immanence of God.'* 

4 



c^i 




II 




KNOW THYSELF 

HE Veil of Dogma, Superstition 
and Disbelief 
Q In Self (God) was lifted from 
before mine eyes; 
I beheld the Kingdom of God within the 
Temple (Man), 

^ What Majestic Powers and Mighty Force 

for all; 
And I said unto the One who guarded the 

Gate, 
How can fettered souls enter in ?" 
And He answered, "Know Thyself '' (God). 

Dr. L. W. de Laurence 



^"The Soul which ^Knows Itself (God) 
possesses more wisdom than all the Cults and 
Creeds combined.'' 

^ "Man and woman's greatest asset is 'Faith' 
in 'Themselves' (God). 

^ "The Human Mind, uncontrolled^ is the 
source of every error, disease, weakness and 
crime." T)r. L. JV. de Laurence 



















Ui 





THE AMERICAN CAPTAIN AND 
THE INDIAN CHIEF 

HEN the writer hears a priest or 
minister speak of God as a mighty 
and "all wise" individual, or 
threaten those who doubt Him 
with "everlasting damnation" and at the 
same time sees sincere men and women, who 
have found God within the Temple, them- 
selves, unalarmed and unconcerned about 
whether their actions please the priests' or 
ministers' mighty God or not, it reminds 
him of the story of the American captain 
and the Indian chief, which follows : 

^ "&V down in yonder chair^^ said an American 
captain to a captured Indian chiefs ^^and hear what 
your great father at Washington {alluding to the 
President^ wishes to say to you,^^ ''/ have no great 
father at Washington^^ was the red man s reply, 
^^The Sun is my Father; the Earth is my Mother; I 
will repose on her bosom ^^^ and he cast himself 
haughtily upon the ground. 

Q The Indian chief was as unconcerned about the 
message the captain had for him from his so-called 
father at Washington^ as some people are about what 
the priest or minister has to tell them about God, 




PREFACE 

HIS book has been written to meet the 
conditions and circumstances of today. 
^ These conditions briefly stated are: 
<| First: Men and women cannot do 
without the true and original teach- 
ings of "The Master Jesus." 

fl Second: Percipient people are not satisfied; can- 
not accept or do with them as they are interpreted 
and taught by Christianity. 

^ '^The Master Jesus" taught men and women to 
"believe" in themselves (God). 

^ Percipient men and women of today do not accept 
the dogmas and symbols of the "church," neither 
will their percipience allow them to accept the 
doctrine of perdition. 

^ They know, notwithstanding the exhortions of 
the preacher, that true belief lies within the soul, 
and not in the Sepulchre of Historical and Mouldy 
Tradition, and that "God" (Self) is "Immanent." 
f^ Any criticisms that may be made of this work 
are obviously based on a misunderstanding of the 
teachings of "The Master Jesus." 
^ " The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty, ^^ 
^ ^^I have told you ye are Gods,^'' 

^ ^^The Kingdom of God is within you.'' ^^The 
Father is in me^ I in him and we in youT "ZI? 
are the temple of the living God."" 
^ ^^God is Spirit^ and they that worship Him in spirit 
and in truth '' 

€| Seek ye the Kingdom of God vuithin you'' ^^For 
in Him we live,^ and move^ and have our being'' 

7 







g^ 

















Preface 
g Those who are content to judge by the effect 
which this work, when well studied, may have on 
their natures and conditions in life, will recognize 
each page as a helping hand which will lead them 
to a knowledge of Self (God), 
q The writer's mission and sole object is to pro- 
mulgate "Truth" as taught by "The Master Jesus," 
but he cannot compel the selfish or superstitious to 
receive it, nor has he any desire to do so. 
^ Personally this is of no import to him, as this 
book was not written for fame or money, nor the 
usual incentives that actuate money making men 
to write and publish books. 

q The author's greatest reward will be the con- 
sciousness that in putting this work into the hands 
of fettered and suffering humanity, he is doing his 
duty. 

q "The Master Jesus" desired that men and 
women lead a life free from greed, selfishness, 
superstition and dogma; free from the torments or 
an uncontrolled self; exempt from sorrow and 
disease. 

q Today old age is almost unknown. 
^ Men are not braced with a perpetual vigor and 
inward belief in themselves ^od). 
^ The evils of disease are early felt. 
q Very few you see, in whom the evils of disease 
are unfelt. 

^ Very few there are, that when the hour of disso- 
lution arrives, death assumes the mild aspect of 
sleep; laying aside all its terror. 
^ Very few there are who have ever learned the 
lesson, ^^Know Thyself. " 

8 





CHAPTER I-PART I. 
VIEW OF THE BIBLE. 

THE JEW PRIESTS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 

AS TO THE PETRO-PAULITE NOTION 
OF GOD, IT IS ARRIVED AT THUS: 

THE PRIEST, THE MINISTER AND THE 
CHRISTIAN TAKE A PASSAGE FROM 
PAUL AND A PASSAGE FROM PETER, 
AND SOME PASSAGES FROM THE JEW 
PRIESTS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, AND 
THE JEW CONVERTS OF THE NEW, AND 
HAVING THUS FORMED A PIECE OF 
PATCHWORK, THEY CRY OUT, THIS IS 
GOD-THERE IS NO OTHER. 

All that I have written in this book in favour 
of the Scriptures, must be understood in refer- 
ence to the great principles of truth and duty 
unfolded and inculcated in them by *^The Master 
Jesus,'' and not in reference to every sentence, 
or every narrative, or every book which com- 
monly goes under the name of Scripture. From 
my earliest days I have been accustomed, in read- 
ing the Scriptures, to pass lightly over those por- 
tions of them which revealed no truth, which 
supplied no proof or illustration of any great 
principle, which inculcated no duty, or which 
contained no good example, and to fix my mind 
on those portions of Scripture which unfolded the 
character of God within man, and the ways of 
his providence, which recorded events illustra- 

iii 










IV 



View of the Bible 











tive of God's character and the principles of true 
faith, which inculcated the principles of human 
duty, and furnished examples of obedience to 
those principles. From the first of my recollec- 
tion I have reg'arded the Bible as a Religious or 
Moral Lesson Book ; as a book to make men good ; 
as a book that aimed at making people wise for 
the purpose of making them good. And all that 
I have said of the Bible is to be imderstood or in- 
terpreted on this principle. My high commenda- 
tions of the teachings of Jesus are not to be un- 
derstood of every thing contained in the book, but 
of its great principles, of its religious and moral 
teachings only. Those commendations are not to 
be understood of all that is said about the law of 
Moses, the erection of the tabernacle, the Gene- 
alogies of the Antediluvians, or the Genealogies 
and Chronologies of the Jews, or of the Song of 
Solomon, or of every particular passage in the 
Psalms, or of all the dark passages in the Proph- 
ets, or of the difficult passages in the Epistles of 
Paul, or every portion of the Gospel attributed 
to John, or of the Revelations. I never did re- 
gard the whole of the Scriptures as the word of 
God; I never considered the Bible to be divine 
as a w^hole, and I spoke of it accordingly. At 
the same time, those portions of the Bible Avhich 
occupied my mind at times, those portions on 
which I formed my judgment of its character 
and worth, those portions of Scripture to which 
all my commendations did in reality refer, and 
the only portions to w^hich those commendations 
can with truth or propriety be applied, are those 
portions containing religious truths, and inculca- 
tions of great, unchanging moral duties. 

When a man has been taught wrong notions 
respecting the Scriptures in early life, it is diffi- 






t 

r 
1^ ' 



cult for him to free himself from their influence. 
It is astonishing how one false notion respecting 
the Scriptures will blind a man to the real char- 
acter of the Scriptures. It is astonishing how 
one false notion respecting the Scriptures will 
influence a man's words in speaking and writ- 
ing of them. In short, it is astonishing how one 
false notion instilled into the mind in infancy, 
will cause a man to speak and write of the Scrip- 
tures for years together, in the most irrational 
and untruthful way, even after he has become 
in most things a rational character. I never 
could read the Scriptures, from my earlier days, 
without seeing many things in them which 
looked strange and unaccountable. I never 
could read the Scriptures, from my earlier days, 
without having my feelings shocked by several 
portions of them. Some of these portions I was 
accustomed to regard as myths, and I passed 
over them accordingly. Still I could not help 
feeling that other passages vv^ere not exactly 
mysterious, but revolting rather. Had I dared 
to think, and to speak my thoughts, I should 
have said that they were not exactly imintelli- 
gible, but erroneous ; that they were not exactly 
truths unrevealed, but doubtful or fabulous tra- 
ditions. My thoughts of the Scriptures at pres- 
ent are exceedingly dilferent from what they 
were in my early days. I still regard them as 
of infinite value, and would do my utmost to 
preserve them to future ages. I regard them as 
of infinite value, and think them calculated to 
do an immense amount of good: but I am far 
from regarding them as one whole piece of un- 
broken or unmingled truth. I believe their 
tendency, on the whole, is good; but I am far 
from thinking that the tendency of every par- 

















g^ 








g^ 




View of the Bible 



ticTilar portion is good. There are, in my judg- 
ment, numerous passages of Scripture which are 
calculated to do great harm, and still more 
numerous portions that can hardly by any pos- 
sibility do good. I believe that the general prin- 
ciples inculcated in the Bible are true ; but I am 
far from believing that every particular state- 
ment, or every particular history, is true. I be- 
lieve that the Bible contains hundreds and thou- 
sands of errors, both with respect to matters of 
fact, and matters of truth and duty. I believe 
that the Bible contains errors of almost every 
description ; historical errors, geographical er- 
rors, chronological errors, philosophical errors, 
grammatical errors, rhetorical errors, logical 
errors, theological errors, moral errors, prophet- 
ical errors, poetical errors, zoological errors, as- 
tronomical errors, and geological errors : errors 
in short, of every description. I question 
whether there is a single book, from the book of 
Genesis to the book of Revelations, w^hich does 
not contain a number of errors, and errors of 
various kinds. As I have said, I have not the 
slightest objection to the leading religious and 
moral principles of the Bible. On the contrary, 
I regard them with the utmost respect and rev- 
erence. I believe the course of life which the 
leading precepts of Jesus inculcate, is the way 
both to peace on earth, and to happiness. I be- 
lieve that in proportion, as the great leading 
principles of God and duty unfolded and incul- 
cated in the Bible by Jesus are understood and 
reduced to practice, will mankind become happy 
and prosperous, intelligent and godlike. All 
that I have said of the Scriptures, all that I 
have written in their favour, I still regard as 
perfectly true, when understood as referring to 





Immanence of God 



their great leading principles of religion and 
virtue. It is not therefore any evil deeds; it is 
not any love of darkness ; it is not any hatred of 
light ; it is not any unchristian, inhuman, or un- 
godly motive ; it is not any regard to interest, or 
reputation, or ease; it is not from a love of 
money or of friends, or from a love of any 
sensual or forbidden pleasure, that I speak of 
the Bible as an imperfect book ; but the contrary. 
My present belief with respect to the Bible, arises 
from a love of light and of virtue, and not from 
a love of darkness or of vice. It is not because 
my deeds aii^e evil that I reject and oppose the 
common notion, that the Bible is an absolutely 
perfect book, an unmixed revelation of truth and 
duty; nor is it from any inclination to indulge 
in evil deeds for the future. On the contrary; 
it is because my deeds are righteous, and because 
I wish the deeds of others to be righteous, that 
I thus speak of the Scriptures. If I speak 
against the orthodox notions of Scripture inspir- 
ation and infallibility, it is from a zeal for truth 
and for religion, and not from a zeal for error 
or impiety. And my character, so far as it is 
known, will bear witness to the truth of these 
statements. Nor have I been hasty in coming to 
my present opinions respecting the Scriptures. 
I have, on the contrary, been exceedingly slow. 
I have given up my belief in the orthodox notion 
of Scripture inspiration and infallibility with 
the utmost reluctance. I held and defended the 
orthodox notions as long as I conscientiously 
could. I used my understanding to the utmost 
to find out reasons for rejecting the opinions 
which I now feel obliged to entertain, and for 
holding to the opinions which were taught me 
from my youth. I say, I have moved very 




■rj^/i/V. 



.5^^ 





















View of the Bible 



slowly. I have proceeded most deliberately. I 
have taken not a single step till reason and con- 
science obliged me to take it, and I have not 
moved a single inch or hair's breadth farther, 
than a regard to truth and conscience required 
me to move. It has not been therefore any con- 
tempt for God that has led me to form my pres- 
ent opinions, but, on the contrary, a devout and 
most reverent regard for the God within man, 

I thought it proper to make these statements 
before I proceeded to point out a number of 
passages of Scripture, which appear to me to be 
doubtful, fabulous, erroneous, or of evil tend- 
ency. Having made these statements, I pro- 
ceed to my observations. 

I shall begin with the beginning, and proceed, 
as I have time and opportunity, to the end. 

First— I question the truth of the Mosaic ac- 
counts of creation. I have no doubt but that the 
earth and the sky were created. I believe that 
every living thing, and every herb and tree v/ere 
created. That there was a time when there was 
not a living thing upon earth ; that every living 
thing at present existing, did once begin to be; 
that the races of every living thing existing be- 
gan to be ; that the human race began to be ; that 
there was a time when man did not exist ; that 
man was created; that man was provided for; 
and that, as to its siibstance, the Mosaic account 
of creation is, in general, true: but in many of 
its particulars^ it is, in my judgment, doubtful, 
or plainly fabulous. I do not believe, for in- 
stance, that the whole work of creation was be- 
gun and completed in six days. I do not believe 
that creation proceeded in the order in which it 
is recorded in the book of Genesis. Nor do I be- 
lieve that the creation was completed in the 



Wi 



E 




time stated in Genesis. It is probable, in my 
judgment, that the work of creation occupied 
thousands of years, if not scores and hundreds of 
thousands. 

Again ; I do not believe that there is a firma- 
ment or solid frame work, between the earth and 
the cloudy or watery regions of the air, from the 
waters on the earth. 

I do not believe that God, at any period, rested 
from his work, I believe that God has continued 
his work from the beginning to this hour; that 
he labours as much now, as he ever did ; that he 
laboured as much on the seventh day of creation, 
as he did on the first, or second, or third. I be- 
lieve that the work of creation is going on per- 
petually ; that the work of creation has from the 
l3eginning been gradual ; that the process of cre- 
ation has not been interrupted by either days or 
nights ; that the work of God has been going on 
from the beginning, and will continue to go on 
without interruption or cessation, world ^vithout 
end. 

It appears to me, from the book of Genesis, 
that the writer was a very imperfect philoso- 
pher; that he held erroneous notions respecting 
the atmosphere and the heavens, and that he had 
no certain knowledge either with respect to the 
period when creation commenced, the manner in 
which creation proceeded, or the changes 
through which the earth and the heavens had 
passed, from the time when they were first 
brought into being. I regard the Mosaic account 
of the creation, I mean its particular statements, 
as fabulous. 

It is plain, from the account itself, that Moses, 
if Moses was the author of the account, knew 
little either of Geography or Astronomy. For 


















--Vi 







instance, he did not Imow that that which was 
the morning in one part of the world, w^as the 
evening in other parts of the world; and that 
that which was noon in one part of the world, 
was midnight in other parts of the world. He 
appears to have imagined that the morning and 
the evening were the same in all parts of the 
earth; that there was one portion of time when 
it was day everywhere, and another portion of 
time when it was night everywhere; that at one 
time it was day to God, and not night ; and that 
at another time it was night to God, and not day ; 
whereas in truth it could be no such thing. It 
is always day, and it is always night, in some 
parts of the world; it is always morning and it 
is always evening. To God, who is everywhere^ 
it is both day and night, morning and evening, 
midnight and noon, at the same time, and at all 
times. To God, there could be no such thing 
therefore as a particular time w^hen it was morn- 
ing or evening, unless God had limited himself 
to one particular part of the earth, and spoken 
of one particular part of the earth, regardless 
of all other parts. 

Again, the writer of the book of Genesis ap- 
pears to have supposed, that the day and night 
returned in every part of the earth in twenty- 
four hours, whereas, in truth, in some parts of 
the earth the day and night return only once in 
a year. At the poles there is but one day and 
one night, but one morning and but one evening, 
the whole year round. A polar day is six 
months, and a polar night is the same. Thus 
the account of creation contained in the book of 
Genesis is built on false notions of Geography 
and Astronomy, and the account of the origin of 
the Sabbath, or of the sanctification of the 



il 



seventh day, is also built on these erroneous 
conceptions. 

While I am alluding to the Sabbath, it may be 
well to observe, that there is no fixed portion of 
time which can be kept as a Sabbath-day by all 
the people of the earth ; for that which is day to 
one part of the earth, is night to other parts; 
and that which is morning to many parts of the 
earth, is evening to other parts. Suppose the 
Sabbath to commence in Leeds at twelve o'clock 
on a Saturday night, and suppose the Sabbath 
to be observed at exactly the same time through 
every part of the earth; the consequence would 
be, that in Germany it must commence at half- 
past twelve on a Sunday morning, in Hungary 
at one, and a little farther east at two, a little 
farther east again, at three. In America it will 
commence at nine on Saturday evening, and on 
every other spot on earth it must commence at a 
different hour of the day or of the night. Some 
would have to begin their Sabbath at noon, some 
at two o'clock, some at four o'clock, some at six 
and seven and eight in the evening, some at ten 
and eleven in the evening, and others at six, 
seven, or eight in the morning, and others at 
every possible diversity of time. In some parts 
of England we should have to begin at one 
minute, and in other parts at another minute, 
and even the minute itself would have to be di- 
vided into seconds, and the seconds into minims. 
The Sabbath, it is plain, could never be intended 
by God for universal observance. In other 
words, it could never be designed by God, that 
all mankind should spend exactly the same por- 
tion of time as a day of rest, for no two portions 
of the human family have exactly the same 
season and measure of day-light to be thus spent. 
























View of the Bible 



Second— 1 regard the account of the garden of 
Eden as a doubtful or fabulous story. I regard 
as doubtful or fabulous the account of man's 
creation. Man might be made out of the dust 
of the ground; he might be first formed, and 
then endowed with life; but I question whether 
this was the case or not. I doubt the account 
respecting the tree of knowledge and the tree of 
life, the first command and the first offence. I 
doubt the account of the formation of woman 
from the rib of the man. I doubt the account 
respecting the naming of all the living creatures 
by Adam. I doubt the account of the first temp- 
tation. I do not believe that the serpent had 
ever the power of speech, or that it ever was the 
most subtle of the beasts of the field, or that 
Eye was ever accosted by the serpent, as the ac- 
count in Genesis states. I believe that God made 
man, and that he made woman; that he made 
woman to be a help meet for man, and that he 
provided man food at his creation, and that man 
and woman were intended to live together in 
marriage, in a devoted and lasting union. I be- 
lieve too that man was tempted and sinned. In 
sicistance, the account of Moses in reference to 
these matters, may be perfectly true; but as to 
the particular fo7^m of the story, I believe it to 
be fabulous. 

I am going a long way in my opinions, but I 
cannot help it. It must be right to inquire after 
truth, and my inquiries necessarily lead me to 
those conclusions. It could never be right to 
give up inquiry for fear it should lead me to 
conclusions at variance with the opinions I have 
been accustomed to hold. If people were to 
give up inquiring whenever inquiry was likely 
to lead them to a change of opinion, there could 




be no improvement in the world : no error would 
ever be detected ; no truth would ever be discov- 
ered; the old, however bad, would remain for 
ever, and the time would never come when we 
should have all things new. It must be right to 
inquire; it must be right to inquire freely and 
fearlessly. Why should a man be afraid of the 
result of inquiry? It is impossible that God 
can be offended with honest inquiry after truth. 
It is impossible but that God should be well 
pleased vrith the honest and diligent pursuit of 
truth. And it is impossible that inquiry should 
prove injuricAis to truth: it is impossible but 
that incpiry should prove friendly to truth. I 
will therefore proceed. I will examine the 
Scriptures, and declare the results of my exam- 
ination, without reserve. I have no doubt that 
God is within man. I have no doubt but that the 
religion of Jesus ^'THE MASTER" is true, and 
that inquiry will prove conducive to its interests. 
The idea that inquiry can ever lead to the 
overthrow of the religion of Jesus is foolish. 
Let me utter a prophecy. The day will never 
come when there will be less religion in the world 
than there is now. The day will never come when 
True religion will decline amongst the simple- 
minded, uncorrupted portion of our race. The 
day will never come when the religion of '^The 
Master" will be really endangered. The founda- 
tions of his religion are laid deep. They never 
can be overturned. They are laid in the heart, 
in the nature of man, and can never be destroyed 
but with our race. As long as there are men, 
there will be religion. If the Bible should be ut- 
terly exploded, religion will remain. But the 
Bible will not be utterly exploded. It will be re- 
vered forever. The great principles of religion 
























and duty unfolded and inculcated in the Bible 
by ^^The Master Jesus" will always make the 
Book venerable, as long as time shall endure. It 
is only portions of the Bible that will fall into 
disrepute. It is only the imperfections and 
errors mixed up with the revelations of the Scrip- 
tures that will ever be endangered. Those por- 
tions of the Bible will fall into disrepute. They 
may not quite perish : but they will cease to be be- 
lieved. They may still be preserved, as a record 
of the errors and follies, the weaknesses and pe- 
culiarities of ages past ; but they will cease to be 
regarded as divine revelations, as infallible rec- 
ords. They will be regarded, as they are, in fact, 
as the relics of a comparatively dark and uncul- 
tivated, but still an interesting age. 

I say religion will never be endangered. Its 
foundations will never be shaken. Its influence 
will never suffer a general or a lasting decline. 
Mankind wdll no more ever cease to be religious, 
than they will cease to be animal. The greatest 
danger to religion arises from the frauds that 
have been resorted to for its support. Nothing 
has done more towards shaking people's faith 
in the truth of religion., than the falsehoods that 
have been invented and imposed upon people 
with a view to promote the interests of religion, 
or to strengthen people's faith. But even these 
will not endanger the interests of religion per- 
manently. They wall cause men to doubt and 
to disbelieve for a time. They will cause great 
numbers thus to doubt and disbelieve; but they 
will never cause men generally to doubt or dis- 
believe, much less will they cause men perma- 
nently to doubt and disbelieve. The effect they 
will produce will seem to threaten the interests 
of religion in the estimation of some, but they 



will only seem to threaten tliem. Those persons 
who think that religion is in danger, do not un- 
derstand what religion is, or they are not at all 
aware of the true foundations of religion. Many 
of those who profess to be so concerned for the 
interests of religion, are themselves unbelievers 
in heart. The man that understands religion, 
and that knows on what foundation it rests, will 
no more doubt the perpetuity of religion, than 
he will doubt the perpetual revolution of the 
seasons. He will no more fear that religion will 
be overthrown or annihilated, than he will fear 
the extinction of the sun, or the destruction of 
the earth. The man that understands religion, 
and knows on what foundations it rests, has as 
firm a faith in its truth, in its power, in its 
eternity, as he has in the goodness and perfec- 
tion of the laws of the universe, or of the laws 
of human nature. Religion cannot be over- 
thrown, either by the revelations of the wise, or 
the mistakes of the ignorant. I shall therefore 
proceed with my remarks on the Scriptures. 

I may state, that though I regard the early 
portions of Scripture as fabulous, I still con- 
sider them, in many cases, as truthful and use- 
ful fables. Though they are fables, they are 
still, to some extent, in harmony with the great 
principles of religion. For instance, they are 
based, in general, upon the great principles that 
there is a God,— that God created the heavens 
and the earth,— that God made man,— that man 
is an accountable creature, a moral agent, the 
subject of divine Government,— that there is a 
distinction between good and evil,— that there 
are some things which man is bound to do, and 
other things that he is bound to leave undone, — 
that man's happiness depends on his obedience 























to the law of God, — that if man does evil, he 
will be punished; and that if he does good, or 
lives aright, he will be rewarded, — that the man 
who obeys God is safe, but that the man who dis- 
obeys God is in danger,— that obedience to God 
and happiness are inseparable, and that disobe- 
dience to God and wretchedness are equally so,— 
that the whole universe is under God's control, 
and that He does what He pleases both in heaven 
and in earth,— that He can make all nature an 
instrument of chastisement to offending man, 
or a means of joy and blessedness to obedient 
man. I say the accounts contained in the Scrip- 
tures are, in general, based on those great prin- 
ciples of religious truth, and tend to unfold and 
illustrate those principles, and are, therefore, 
so far calculated to promote religion. I cannot 
doubt but that many of the Scripture records 
are fables, yet they are, in many cases, fables 
that are calculated to exert a favourable influ- 
ence on men's minds. "Who originated those ac- 
counts is unknown. It v/ould be foolish to sup- 
pose that any single individual originated them. 
They were probably the production of a multi- 
tude of minds operating for ages. The person 
who first wrote them, only collected them per- 
haps, and reduced them to something like form 
and order. The person who first put them in 
the form in which they stand in the book of 
Genesis, very probably took them from records 
or books that had been written previously. No 
doubt he regarded them himself as true. He 
probably selected them from other accounts or 
traditions, less worthy of regard. 

I ought to add, that the account does not ap- 
pear to agree exactly with itself. There appear, 
in fact, to be two or three accounts, two or three 




-0 

n 



different traditions, joined together in the same 
book. The first account represents God as mak- 
ing man and woman on, the sixth day. It repre- 
sents Him as making man and woman at the 
same time. It gives not the slightest intimation 
that woman was made out of a part of the man, 
or that she was made after man at all. It rep- 
resents God as making man in his own image; 
as creating man male and female; as giving them 
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the 
fowl of the air, &c. ; as blessing them, and com- 
manding them to be fruitful, and multiply, and 
replenish the earth. It represents God as giving 
them every herb bearing seed upon the face of 
all the earth, and every tree in which is the 
fruit of a tree yielding seed, for meat. This ac- 
count appears to end with verse third of the sec- 
ond chapter. At verse fourth of that chapter, 
a second account seems to begin. ^ These are the 
generations of the heavens and of the earth 
when they were created, &c.' In this account 
God is represented as making man first, and as 
allovvdng him to live for a length of time alone. 
God also is represented as planting a garden for 
man in Eden, and placing man in it. He is also 
represented as giving the man the fruit of the 
trees of this garden for his food, and not the 
herb of the field, as is stated in the former case. 
This second account also contains the story of 
the tree of knowledge of good and evil, said to 
be placed in the midst of the garden, and of the 
tree of life, &c. It also represents God as put- 
ting man into the garden of Eden to dres-s it and 
to keep it. After all this has been done, and 
after an indefinite and unmentioned portion of 
time has passed, God is represented as saying, 
'It is not good that man should be alone: I will 




g^?g 





















View of the Bible 



make him an help meet for him. ' Then God is 
represented as forming out of the ground every 
beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and 
as bringing them unto Adam to see what he 
would call them. Here the beasts of the field 
and the fowls of the air are represented as being 
made after man, and as being created for man's 
comfort. Then the length of time that must 
have been taken up in the process of placing all 
the fowls of the air and all the beasts of the field 
before Adam, to afford him an opportunity of 
naming them all, must have been very consider- 
able. We can hardly regard it as the work of a 
day or even of a w^eek. We are next told that 
*Adam gave names to all cattle, to the fowls of 
the air, and to every beast of the field, but that 
for Adam there was still found no help meet for 
him.' Then comes the account of the creation 
of woman. The Lord God, it is said, caused a 
deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and, while he 
slept, took one of his ribs, and closed irp the 
flesh instead thereof, and of this rib the Lord 
God made a woman, and brought her unto the 
man, &c. I say the whole of this account differs 
widely, and that in several important particu- 
lars, from the account contained in the first 
chapter, and the first three verses of the second 
chapter. 

There is another matter which deserves to be 
observed. In the first account God is simply 
spoken of as God. ^God created the heavens and 
the earth.' 'God said. Let there be light: God 
said. Let us make man, &c.' The only name of 
the Supreme Being in all this part is simply 
God. But in the second account God is invaria- 
bly designated by another name. Here he is 
called the Lord God, and he is spoken of as the 





Immanence of God 



Lord God in every passage that occurs. 'The 
Lord God made the earth and the heavens. The 
Lord God had not caused it to rain. The Lord 
God formed man of the dust of the ground. The 
Lord God planted a garden. The Lord God 
made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the 
sight. The Lord God took the man and put him 
into the garden, &c.' This difference, on any 
other principle than the one suggested, namely, 
that there are two distinct accounts, written 
originally by different parties forming two sep- 
arate traditions containing two different and 
even irreconcileable histories of the origin of 
man, and of the creation of the world, is to be 
unaccountable. The author of the book of Gen- 
esis must therefore be considered as simply put- 
ting on record what he considered the best ex- 
isting traditions respecting the origin of man 
and the creation of the universe. It is not un- 
likely that the two accounts contained in the 
first chapters of the book of Genesis, were the 
productions both of different nations and of 
different ages. 

To proceed. I question the truth of the ac- 
count contained in the seventh verse of the sec- 
ond chapter, where it is said that the Lord God 
breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life. 
The passage represents God as a man, and at- 
tributes to him the acts of a man, and such 
representations of the divine Being cannot be 
correct. Some may say that the writer speaks 
of incomprehensible things; things which can- 
not be expressed in human language. I answer, 
Why then attempt to express them? Why med- 
dle with things incomprehensible and inexpress- 
ible? If a thing cannot be expressed in human 
language, it is best not to express it at all. Be- 










W^ 






XX View of tJ^ Bible 

sides, if the thing as it is stated in the Seriptore 
were true, to know that God srave man life by 
breathing into his nostrils, conld be of no use to 
us. Nor could it be of any use to us to have 
some incomprehensible truth expressed, or 
rather concealed, under such a form of expres- 
sion. My belief is, that the writer of the account 
regarded God as bearing the likeness and form 
of a man, and as literally breathing into the 
nostrils of man as one man might breathe into 
the nastrils of another. I regard the account 
as an indication of the rude opinions held re- 
specting the Deity and his manner of operation 
in ancient times. 

I do not believe that the first man gave names 
to all cattle, and to all the fowls of the air, and 
to every beast of the field. Xor do I believe that 
whatsoever Adam, or the first man, called every 
living creature, was originally the name thereof. 
I should rather believe that Adam, or the first 
man, was not acquainted with a tenth of all the 
living creatures on the face of the earth, and 
that of course he did not give names to them all. 

I do not believe in the account given in the 
second chapter of Genesis respecting the crea- 
tion of woman. I should rather believe that it 
was the result of an attempt, on the part- of some 
one, to account for the origin of marriage, and 
the devoted and mutual affection of husbands 
and wives. I regard the account as a fable. I 
still consider it a beautiful fable, and not with- 
out truth. 

Again ; I cannot see what good it could do to 
posterity, to be told that the first man and 
woman were both naked and were not ashamed. 
The thing might be perfectly true, and yet not 



'J 



1 






necessary to be recorded, nor calculated to be of 
any use when recorded. 

I do not believe that the serpent was ever 
more subtle than all the beasts of the field, nor 
do I believe that it ever had the gift of speech. 
Of course, I regard the account of the first 
temptation as fabulous, as VvcU as the account 
of the first transgression, and of the effects re- 
sulting from that transgression. I regard the 
w^hole as a fable. The fable is not without truth, 
nor is it without utility, perhaps. I have, how- 
ever, no doubt but that it is a fable. In this 
account the representation of God is still that 
of a being like man. He is represented as walk- 
ing in the garden in the cool of the evening; as 
having a voice to be heard as man's voice is 
heard ; and the first man and his wife are repre- 
sented as hiding themselves from the presence 
of the Lord God among the trees of the garden, 
while God is represented as standing in another 
place, and calling out to Adam, Where art thou ? 

I do not believe that God ever cursed the ser- 
pent. I do not believe that the serpent had any 
thing to do with the first temptation. I do not 
believe that the serpent is cursed above all 
cattle, and above every beast of the field. I be- 
lieve that no beast of the field is cursed. I see 
no reason to believe that the serpent is in a 
more unhappy position than many other beasts 
of the field. It can move more quickly than 
many. It has greater power than many. It has 
as safe a retreat, and as happy a home, as most 
other living things. It has as much power to 
protect itself from other liviug things, and even 
from man himself, as most other animals. Nor 
do I believe that the serpent was doomed to go 
upon its belly in consequence of any thing that 
















it did in the earlier ages of the world. I believe 
the serpent never went otherwise than on its 
belly. And it is certain that dust is not the 
meat of the serpent. Serpents, like many other 
living things, prey upon other animals, and live 
on them. Serpents eat ducks and geese, insects 
and birds, rabbits and hares, and even sheep 
and calves, and in some cases even oxen and 
men. There is no reason to believe that any 
serpent lives upon dust, and it is certain that 
serpents generally do not live upon dust. 

Nor do I believe that God put enmity between 
the serpent and the woman, or between the seed 
of the serpent and the seed of the woman. It is 
true, that there is a dread of serpents, as there 
is of many other reptiles ; but there is no ground 
to believe that the serpent is any more hostile 
to man than many other living creatures, or that 
man is more hostile to serpents than to many 
other living creatures. I regard the whole of 
this story as an attempt to account for notions 
and feelings existing when the story was 
framed, by the active inquiring mind of the 
half-enlightened author. Men probably won- 
dered that serpents went upon their bellies, — 
that they had not either wings or feet, as most 
other living creatures had; and they imagined 
this evil deed of the serpent as the cause. They 
attempted to account for the fact by this fable. 
They had besides, no doubt, an opinion that 
serpents lived upon dust, and they framed the 
fable to account for this im^aginary fact also. 
Solomon had an idea that ants laid up grain in 
summer for the winter, as his ancestors appear 
to have had the idea that serpents lived upon 
dust. Both were wrong. Later researches have 
proved that both these opinions were false; that 




T 



with our food, 
serpent eats a 
other animals. 



ants do not lay up grain for the winter, and that 
serpents do not live upon dust. Some may say 
that the words do not 7nean that the serpent shall 
live upon dust, but only in eating its food, it 
should eat a quantity of dust along with it. But 
if this were the meaning of the passage it would 
be no more true of the serpent than it is of all 
other animals. We all eat a quantity of dust 
Nor is there any proof that the 
greater quantity of dust than 
It is probable the serpents eat 
less than many others. Many serpents live 
among the grass, where there is very little dust 
indeed. They are accustomed to lick over their 
food before they swallow it. They therefore 
take their food in a cleaner state than many 
other animals. The birds perhaps eat more dust 
than any other kind of animals, especially the 
birds that live on grain and on worms. And it 
is a fact, that birds do literally pick up grains 
of dust or sand. But there is no reason to be- 
lieve that serpents do any thing of the kind. 

Nor do I believe that the sorrow or pain ex- 
perienced by women in conception or child-bear- 
ing, are the result of the first transgression. 
The sorrow and pain of child-bearing would 
have existed, I have no doubt, if sin had never 
been committed. The lower animals suffer pain 
in conceiving and bringing forth their young. 
Even birds suffer pain in laying their eggs. 

Nor do I believe it to be a fact, that the desire 
of the woman is to her husband, any more than 
the desire of the man is to his wife. In Eastern 
nations, and in early times, this might be the 
case, when men had several wives, or when men 
who had but one wife had several concubines; 
but not in a natural state of society ; not in any 














J 













View of tlie Bible 



state of society where the natural laws of mar- 
riage are respected. "Women, of coui'se, are not 
all alike. They differ as men differ, and in one 
case the desire may be stronger in one sex, and 
in another case stronger in the other: but the 
account contained in the text, in my judgment, 
had its origin in ignorance of human nature. 

Xor do I think, that man's dominion over 
woman is the result of the first transgression, or 
is any appointment of God at all. I believe it 
to be a piece of usurpation on the part of man. 
I believe it to have originated in man's own 
sensuality and injustice. God no more intended 
man to be lord over woman, than he intended 
woman to be lord over man. God intended man 
and woman to be mutual helps and mutual com- 
forts, devoted and enduring friends. He 
neither intended the woman to be lord over the 
man, nor the man to be lord over the woman; 
but both to be loving and equal. I consider the 
tendency of this part of the story to be very 
injurious. It gives countenance to a piece of 
grievous usurpation on the part of man, and en- 
couragement to a piece of injustice and wrong 
inflicted on woman. It tends, when regarded as 
a divine revelation, to perpetuate the degraded 
and unhappy condition of woman, and the un- 
just and mischievous usurpation of man. 

I regard the account that the woman was the 
first in the transgression, as equally fabulous as 
the words just noticed, and as originating in the 
same cause. I consider it as a proof, that the 
men in those days, when the story was first 
framed, were the principal or only writers, and 
that the women were kept in a state of degrada- 
tion, deprived of the benefits of spiritual and 
literary culture. If woman had happened to 





Immanence of God 



have had the supremacy in those early days, 
and man had been held in a state of degrada- 
tion^ the story wonld probably have represented 
man as the first transgressor, and woman as the 

. second only. 

\\ Again, I do not believe that God ever cursed 

the ground on account of the first man's sin. I 
do not believe that he ever cursed the ground at 
all. Nor do I believe that God intended man to 
eat of the fruit of the ground in sorrow all the 
days of his life. I rather believe that he meant 
man to eat of the fruits of the earth with glad- 

j ' ness and gratitude. 
J Nor do I believe that thorns and thistles wer,p 

brought forth by the earth in consequence of a 
curse from God, or in consequence of man's first 
transgression. 

Nor do I believe that man was ever doomed 
to eat the herb of the field alone. In the first 

1 chapter of Genesis, verse 29, God is represented 

! as giving man the fruit of every tree for food, 
as well as every seed-bearing herb. This pas- 
sage, Gen. iii. 18, represents God as denying man 
the use of the fruit trees, and confining him ex- 
clusively to herbs. 

Again, I do not believe that God doomed man 
to toil, or to eat his bread by the sweat of his 
face, on account of transgression. I believe that 
labour w^as intended for man, or that man was 
intended for labour, from the beginning. Nor 
do I believe that labour is a curse : I regard it as 
a blessing. It is essential to man's happiness. 
It is essential to health. It is essential to man's 
spiritual improvement. It is essential to man's 

I purity and virtue. 

I Nor do I regard thorns and thistles as a curse. 

I regard them rather as a blessing. If the earth 
























View of the Bible 



brought forth nothing bnt what was good for 
food, man would have no labour at all; and if 
he had no labour, he would miss one of the 
greatest blessings and enjoyments of life. If 
the earth had brought forth nothing but what 
was agreeable to man, man would not have had 
the necessary exercise for his intellect; and his 
intellect, in consequence, would never have been 
strong. The existence of thorns and thistles, 
and other things causing difficulty and pain, 
obliges man to think, and reason, and plan, and 
thus strengthens or develops his intellect, and 
makes him a more spiritual, rational and god- 
like being. I believe it is well for man that he 
has to eat his bread in the sweat of his face, or, 
in other words, that he is obliged to labour for 
his bread. I do not believe that God ever in- 
tended men to labour as much as some people 
labour, nor do I believe that God ever intended 
that men should labour as little as some other 
people labour. I believe that God intended 
that every man should labour moderately; but 
that no one should labour to excess. I believe 
that God intended that every one should labour 
sufficiently to call into exercise all his powers, 
sufficiently to call them into vigorous exercise: 
but I do not believe that God intended men to 
labour to such an extent as to stretch their pow- 
ers beyond their strength, so as to injure their 
health, or to take up so much of their time as to 
leave them no leisure for rest, recreation, or in- 
tellectual and benevolent pursuits. 

I do not believe that death is the result of 
man's first transgression. I believe that death 
existed before man was made, and that man 
himself would have died if he had never sinned. 
I believe that death is the original appointment 




^ 

b 



Immanence of God 



of God; and that God never intended mankind 
to live for ever on earth: that from the begin- 
ning he designed both man and other -animals 
to fall under the law of death. I believe that 
he intended generation after generation to give 
place to succeeding generations, that life may 
always be new upon the earth. And this ap- 
pears to me to be essential to human improve- 
ment. The death of the old, who, in the present 
state, become incapable of farther intellectual 
and moral improvement, is necessary to the 
farther improvement of the young. If the old 
had lived for ever, they would have ruled the 
world, and have rendered its improvement im- 
possible. It is well that the old are removed, 
when they have learned all that they intend, or 
that they are able to learn, and discovered all 
that they are likely to discover, and carried on 
improvement as far as they are disposed to 
carry it: I say it is well for the old to be re- 
moved, to give place to more active and reform- 
ing spirits, and leave the way open to perpetual 
and indefinite improvement. 

I do not believe that God made Adam and 
Eve coats of skin and clothed them. I believe 
that the first coats were made by man; that 
when God had given man intelligence, he left 
him to make his own coats, as well as to prepare 
his o^Ti food. 

I do not believe that man, by his first trans- 
gression, became as God: nor do I believe that 
God, to prevent man from putting forth his 
hand, and taking also of the tree of life, and 
eating, and living for ever, drove man from his 
first habitation, and placed cerub im and a flam-~x 
ing sword to prevent his return.^ I regard the 
whole as a fable. 













vAn-7 











Yieiv of the Bible 




I have doubts as to the truth of the accounts 
contained in the early part of the book of Gen- 
esis generally. I have no moral objection to the 
account of Abel and Cain: the account contains 
elements of important and practical truth. The 
account is based on truth. It goes on the prin- 
ciple that God loves righteousness and hates in- 
justice; that he rewards the good and pujiishes 
the bad: that he is willing to forgive the bad on 
condition that they become good: that he is no 
respecter of persons^ but only a. respecter of 
characters; that when God accepts of men's of- 
ferings it is on account of the goodness of those 
who offer them; that goodness is ever\i:hing 
with God. All these are great and important 
principles, and they are all mixed up with the 
story of Cain and Abel. They are illustrated 
and enforced by the story. The stor^^ is there- 
fore calculated to do good. It may with pro- 
priety be regarded as a divine revelation. It 
is a divine revelation. All unfolding of truth 
and of duty is divine revelation. At the same 
time, the accoimt is possibly a fable. 

I do not believe that God ever said tc Cain, 
that if he would do well, he should rule over his 
brother Abel. This part of the account seems to 
be founded on the old bad doctrine of the rights 
of primogeniture: the doctrine that the first- 
born had a right to be lord over his brethren. 
This part therefore is false, not only as to mat- 
ter of fact, but as to principle on which it is 
based as well. It is also mischievous in its 
tendency. It is calculated, so far as its influ- 
ence ^roes to promote the perpetuation of those 
unnatural and mischievous customs and laws, 
which give peculiar and exclusive pri\ileges to 
the first-born. 




^V^^. 



I do not believe that God fixed a mark upon 
Cain, to prevent those who might find him from 
slaying him. Indeed, judging from the account 
in the Book of Genesis itself, there could not be 
many people living that would be likely to find 
him or slay him. Besides, fixing a mark upon 
Cain would be the way, as it seems to me, to in- 
crease his danger of being slain. 

Nor do I believe that Cain built a city. 

Nor do I believe the accounts that are given 
with respect to the first artificer in brass and 
iron, or the first maker of harps and organs, and 
the first dwellers in tents and keepers of cattle. 
I regard all these things as guesses, conjectures, 
fables, uncertain traditions. 

Nor do I believe that in early times men lived 
many hundreds of years. I very much question 
whether men ever lived longer than they do at 
present. 

Nor do I believe the story respecting the sons 
of God intermarrying with the daughters of 
men, and giving birth to a race of giants. I 
see no reason to believe that there ever were 
greater or taller men upon earth than there are 
at the present day. The story of giants, and of 
inter-marriages between angels and the daugh- 
ters of men^ or between gods and the daughters 
of men, which are prevalent amongst all, or 
nearly all, nations, as well as amongst the Jews, 
I regard as fabulous. 

Nor do I believe that there ever was a time 
when the earth was full of violence ; when every 
imagination of the thoughts of man's heart was 
evil, only evil, and that continually. There 
never was anything like it, I believe. 

Nor do I believe that God ever repented that 
he had made man on the earth, or that it ever 






g^ 










I 














grieved liim to tlie heart, or grieved liim at all, 
that he had made man. 

Xor do I believe that God ever destroyed the 
Tvhole human race, with the exception of a 
single family, from the face of the earth. 

Xor do I believe that he ever destroyed all 
the beasts and creeping things, and all the fovds 
of the air. 

Xor do I believe that it ever repented God that 
he had made these things. I regard the whole 
story respecting the deluge as another fable. 
The account very probably originated in at- 
tempts to account for the diluvial remains 
abounding in almost every part of the world. I 
have no doubt there have been deluges. I have 
no doubt but that those parts of the world which 
now are mountains, were many or all of them 
once the beds of the sea : and that other parts 
of the earth that are now under the sea, were 
once dry land. My belief however is, that those 
deluges took place before man was created, and 
not in consequence of man's wickedness. And 
I question whether even those deluges were any 
of them universal. They were probably all par- 
tial deluges, caused by the passing of the ocean 
from one part of the earth to others, in conse- 
quence of the elevation of the beds of the ocean 
in some places by volcanic action, or by other 
influences or forces under the direction of God. 
with which we are at present unacquainted. 

I do not believe that any man ever made such 
an ark as that which X'oah is represented as 
making. Xor do I believe that an ark of three 
hundred cubits in length fifty cubits, and in 
breadth and thirty cubits in height, even reck- 
oning the cubit to be a full half yard, could 
ever have answered the purposes which the ark 




11 



Immanence of God 



of Noah is represented as answering. Imagine 
a ship of 150 yards long, twenty-five broad, and 
fifteen high ; wonld such a ship hold two of every 
kind of living thing, whether fowls or cattle or 
creeping things, and fourteen of every clean 
beast and bird ? And would it, in addition to all 
this, hold food for all these fowls and creeping 
things, and beasts of the field, to serve them for 
three hundred and seventy-five days,— ten days 
more than a year? To me it seems impossible. 
A ship three times as large would not hold two 
of every kind of bird, and beast, and creeping 
thing upon the face of the earth, with food suffi- 
cient to serve them all for a year and ten days ; 
much less would it hold, in addition, fourteen 
of all clean beasts and of all clean fowls, with 
food sufficient for them for a year and ten days. 
Look at the immense number of caravans that 
are necessary to hold the beasts that are exhib- 
ited in shows from time to time. Yet the larg- 
est of those exhibitions do not contain one hun- 
dredth part of all the beasts, and creeping things, 
and fowls upon the face of the earth. They con- 
tain but a very small specimen of a compara- 
tively small portion of the strange and wild 
animals of distant countries. They contain no 
oxen, no asses, no horses, no pigs, no common 
fowls, no common wild animals, no common 
birds, no common reptiles or vermin ; much less 
do they contain two of each kind of unclean 
bird and beast, and fourteen of each kind of 
every clean bird and beast; still less do they 
contain sufficient food for all these kinds of ani- 
mals to serve them for three hundred and sev- 
enty-five days, or upwards of a year. An ark 
a hundred and fifty yards long, twenty-five 
broad, and fifteen high, would not contain food 















^^rs. A A , 






for a couple of every kind of bird, and beast, 
and creeping thing npon tlie face of the earth 
for upwards of a year, much less would it con- 
tain the animals and their provisions both. 
Only imagine what a vast amount of flesh would 
be necessary to supply the bears, and lions, and 
tigers, and crocodiles, and eagles, and hawks, 
and owls, and foxes, and wolves, and hyenas, 
and jackals, and all the other kinds of birds, 
and beasts, and creeping things, that live upon 
flesh! Then imagine the quantity of hay, and 
straw, and corn, that would be necessary to 
feed all the grazing kinds of cattle, and all the 
various kinds of birds and creeping things that 
live upon grain and fruit. Then imagine the 
vast amount of insects that would be necessary 
for those kinds of birds, which, like the swallow, 
live almost exclusively upon. them. Then think 
how far many of the animals must have had to 
travel to reach the ark. Some kinds live only in 
the cold countries, others only in the hot, and 
others only in the temperate. Many of them 
would therefore have to travel many thousands 
of miles: some eight or ten thousand miles. 
Their food too would in many cases have to be 
fetched from the same climates in which they 
lived. The story is monstrous. If we had 
found it in an African or Chinese ancient book, 
we should have pronounced it fabulous at once. 
Then again, according to the story, there 
were but eight persons in. the ark, four men and 
four women. Could these four men and women 
attend to a couple of every unclean bird and 
beast and creeping thing on earth, and to four- 
teen of every clean bird and beast ? Could they 
have supplied them with food, and drink, and 




Immanence of God 



bedding, and air, and kept tliem clean during 
the whole of that period ? 

Then imagine the number of young ones that, 
according to the usual course of events, would 
be produced in that period. Then take into ac- 
count the size of some of the animals of those 
early ages, now no longer remaining, such as the 
mammoth and other megatheria. I say the 
story is altogether monstrous. 

Then again, according to the account, this 

vast, capacious ark had but one window, and 

^ but one door, and this one window and this one 

"1 door were both closed. What would the endless 

1 multitudes of animals do for air? And what 
would they do for water ? For the water would 
all be salt, would it not? And how would the 
filth of the vast establishment be cleared away ? 
And how would the eight men and women be 

; protected from the filthy odours that must fill 
the place? 

Again, the account apears to be inconsistent 
with itself. 

In one place it tells us that two of every sort 

2 of living thing were to be brought into the ark, 
male and female ; then another part of the story 
tells us that of every clean beast Noah should 

\i take the male and female by sevens, that is, 

1 seven males and seven females. 

] In other parts the account betrays ignorance. 

It tells us that the fountains of the great deep 
were broken up, and that the windows of 
heaven were opened; or, as the Hebrew has it, 

; the flood-gates of heaven were opened. This 
statement goes on the old foolish principle, that 
in the heavens was a firmament, or firm parti- 
tion, and above that firmament a vast collection 
of water ready to be poured down whenever the 

























^^dndows or flood-gates in the firmament should 
be opened, and that nnder the earth were con- 
cealed similar quantities of water, all ready to 
burst forth and overwhelm the earth whenever 
a way should be made for them. Both those 
notions, so far as we can discover, are erroneous. 
There certainly is no firmament, that is, no 
fixed, firm frame-v/ork or partition between us 
and the starry heavens, above which are treas- 
ured stores of water. And those who have pene- 
trated deep into the earth have discovered that, 
the deeper they go, the warmer does the earth 
become, an indication that fire rather than water 
is contained in the unfathomable depths of the 
earth. Some may say that the opening the 
windows of heaven is a figurative expression, 
only meaning the commencement of heavy show- 
ers. There is however no proof of this. My 
belief is that the expression was used by the 
author literally, and that it is to be taken liter- 
ally by the reader. For myself, I do not think 
that there is water sufficient in the earth and 
in the air to cover the highest mountains fifteen 
cubits above their summits. Of course nothing 
is impossible with God. God could make water 
in abundance at pleasure. But the story does 
not intimate that God made any water for the 
occasion, but simply that he let loose the waters 
which were already made, and that the result 
was, that all the high hills that were under the 
whole heaven were covered, fifteen cubits and 
upwards. "We also grant that God could have 
kept the various kinds of animals T^dthout food 
for three hundred and seventy-five days. But 
the story does not intimate that God did so. It 
tells us that food for all the various animals was 
taken into the ark. It is also true that God could 




Immanence of God 




XXXV 



have fed the animals, and have supplied them 
v/ith water and bedding, without the attentions 
of man. But it is equally true that he could 
have kept both them and man alive without the 
help of an ark. Now the story goes on the sup- 
position, that provision was made for all those 
animals in the natural way, and, thus under- 
stood, the story is absurd; the things which it 
relates are impossible. 

Again; suppose the animals had been well 
provided for in the ark, how did they live when 
they came forth from the ark? The ark rested 
high on the top of a mountain. The ground we 
may naturally expect would be bare. The soil 
would have been washed away into the valleys : 
the deposit in the valleys and on the mountain 
side would have covered the grass, had there 
been any. But the grass could not have grown 
for the three hundred and seventy-five days 
during which the flood continued. Where are 
the animals to find their sustenance then? 
Where shall the dove, the sparrow, and the do- 
mestic fowl find grain? Where shall the swal- 
low and its mate find insects? Where shall the 
ox, and the ass, and the horse find hay, or straw, 
or grass? Where shall the other birds and 
beasts find fruits and vegetables on which to 
subsist? And where shall the ravenous beasts 
find flesh? Then all the various kinds of ani- 
mals m.ust, according to the story, be provided 
for in one place, in one climate, and at one sea- 
son of the year ; whereas in the present state of 
things, each climate has its peculiar race of ani- 
mals, and each race of animals can live and 
thrive in its own peculiar climate alone. The 
maker of the story has betrayed ignorance on a 
hundred subjects, and manifested great forget- 






















fulness on others. He seems to have had no 
idea of the number of different Idnds of animals 
existing on the face of the earth. He appeal^ 
to have had no idea of the amount of food which 
a couple of ravenous beast, and seven couples 
of many other birds and beasts would devour 
in the course of a year. He appears not to have 
thought of the attention which so many different 
kinds of animals would require, or of the skill 
as well as the time and strength that would be 
requisite for feeding and watching and bedding 
them, and for keeping them dry and clean. He 
appears never to have thought either of the num- 
ber of hands that would be requisite for the 
work; or of the quantity of air that the animals 
would require. I say he appears to have been 
ignorant of a vast number of things connected 
with the subject of his story, and to have for- 
gotten and overlooked a great many more. 

Then again, what need could there be for a 
flood to destroy the inhabitants of the earth? 
And if God had repented that he had made man, 
—if it had grieved him to the heart that he had 
made him, why should he allow any part of the 
race to escape? If he wished to favour Noah on 
account of his righteousness, how easy it would 
have been to have translated him to heaven. And 
if he was grieved that he had made man upon 
the earth on account of man turning out so 
wicked, why renew the experiment, and risk 
another disappointment? I do not say that all 
those questions contain proofs, decisive proofs, 
that the story is false : I only say that they are 
questions which naturally arise in my mind, 
and tend, when the falsehood of the story is once 
discovered, to increase one's wonder that the 
story should have been so long believed. 




The story of sending forth the raven and the 
dove, and of the return of the dove with the 
olive leaf, has something rather beautiful and 
interesting in it. But had we met with the same 
stories in the sacred books of the Chinese or 
Hindoos, we should have regarded them at once 
as fabulous. 

After Noah went forth from the ark, the ac- 
count says he built an altar unto the Lord, and 
took of every clean beast, and of every clean 
fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar; 
and the story adds, ^And the Lord smelled a 
sweet savour, and said in his heart, I will not 
again curse the ground any more for man's 
sake, though the imaginations of man's heart 
be evil from his youth ; neither will I again smite 
any more every living thing as I have done.' 
Now what should we have thought if we had 
read such a story in the sacred Books of the 
Chinese or Hindoos ? The idea conveyed of God, 
when he is represented as smelling a sweet 
savour, and resolving on that account never 
more to curse the ground, or to destroy man- 
kind, or to smite any more the living tribes of 
the earth, is certainly not very worthy of God. 
The account is interesting as indicating the low 
and worthy notions entertained of God at the 
time when the account was written, but can 
hardly be regarded as a true revelation of God 's 
character and pleasure. 

In the chatper following, God is represented 
as teaching man that he would require the 
blood of any animal that destroyed a human be- 
ing, and the blood of every man that should 
destroy a brother man. 'Whoso sheddeth man's 
blood, by man sha]l his blood be shed.' I can- 
not believe that God ever uttered these words. 







CiXV^*^ 




trni 









XXXVlll 





Vieiv of the Bible 



Besides, the story is quite inconsistent with the 
account before noticed respecting Cain. God, 
so far from being represented as requiring 
Cain's blood for the blood of his murdered 
brother, is represented as setting a mark upon 
Cain, lest any one finding him should kill him. 
How could God in one case require that whoso- 
ever shed man's blood, should have his own 
blood shed by man, and at the same time inter- 
fere by miracle to prevent a man who had shed 
the blood of his own good brother, from having 
his blood shed in return ! 

It is worthy of remark, that the reason as- 
signed for requiring the blood of the murderer 
or manslayer to be shed, is a reason that would 
be of force from the beginning; namely, 'Who- 
soever sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his 
blood be shed; for in the image of God made He 
man.^ This reason would be as powerful in the 
days of Cain as at any after period. Yet, ac- 
cording to the stor}^, Cain was protected; his 
blood was not shed. God interposed by miracle 
to prevent it from being shed. This is an addi- 
tional proof, not only that the accounts are fab- 
uloiLS, but that the accounts contained in the 
Book of Genesis are by different authoi^, and by 
authors of different sentiments. 

We said on former occasion, that there were 
two accounts of the creation. We may add now, 
that taking in the account of the flood, we have 
three different works or accounts in that book; 
or, if not three, one of the accounts must be re- 
garded as interrupted at verse 3rd of the second 
chapter, and as commencing again with the 
fifth chapter. But there appear to me to be 
ihree, if not four different accounts mixed to- 



T 



Immanence of God 



gether. In the first account God is always 
spoken of as the Lord God: in the third He is 
frequently spoken of as the Lord, and occasion- 
ally as God: and then in the account that fol- 
lows, God is spoken of as God again, and not as 
the Lord, or as the Lord God. 

Another portion of the history of Noah de- 
serves attention. God is represented as saying, 
'I will establish my covenant with you; and 
this is the token of the covenant; I do set my 
bow in the cloud, and it shall be a token for a 
covenant between me and the earth,' &c. *And 
it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over 
the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud : 
and I will remember my covenant, which is be- 
tween me and you, and every living creature of 
all flesh; and the water shall no more become a 
flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be 
in the cloud ; and I will look upon it, that I may 
remember the everlasting covenant between God 
and every living creature of all flesh that is 
upon the earth.' — Gen. ix. 14—16. 

We observe, first, that the rainbow is here 
represented as originating after the flood. Be- 
fore the flood there was no rainbow, according 
to this story. Now we grant that this is possi- 
ble, but we think it very improbable. We be- 
lieve that there have always been rainbows ever 
since there were sunshine and showers at the 
same time. 

Again: God is represented as saying, ^I will 
look upon the rainbow, that I may remember the 
everlasting covenant.' Could God need any 
such means to assist his memory? Is it possible 
that God should forget, or that God should need 
any help to remember things? 









oc> 












The account of Noah's drunkenness, and of 
the conduct of his sons on that occasion, may be 
true, though to me it apears to be fabulous. We 
are especially disposed to call in question the 
truth of the latter part of that account. Here 
Noah is represented as cursing his son Canaan, 
and dooming him to be a servant of servants 
unto his brethren; as blessing Shem, and giving 
him the lordship over Canaan, and dooming 
Canaan to be his servant; as blessing Japheth, 
and giving Canaan to be his servant also. We 
think that God could never encourage Noah to 
curse his own offspring; that God would rather 
instruct Noah to forgive his offending child, to 
teach him the error of his way, and bring him, 
if possible to repentance. The curse and bless- 
ing of Noah have been represented as proph- 
ecies by many. They are treated as prophecies 
by Ne^\i;on. The words are applied to the pos- 
terity of Noah's sons, and the abject and servile 
state of the negro race has been accounted for 
by them; while by others the prophecies have 
been pleaded as a justification of kidnapping 
and enslaving the negro race. The negro race 
have been represented as the children of Ham. 
They are spoken of as the children of Ham in 
one of Wesley's hymns. The whites are repre- 
sented as the descendants of Shem and Japheth, 
and these prophecies are considered as foretell- 
ing, that through all future ages of time, the 
whites shall enslave the blacks. These proph- 
ecies have, in consequence, been productive of 
BO little mischief. Their influence is mischiev- 
ous still. We regard the story as a fable ; it can 
therefore do tis no harm: but those who regard 
it as a revelation of God's character, and as an 



Immanence of God 



infallible record of God's doings, are liable to be 
injuriously influenced by it. 

In the tenth chapter we are told, that by the 
descendants of Japheth the isles of the Gentiles 
were divided, every one after his tongue, and 
that the sons of Shem every one after their 
own tongues took possession of certain other 
lands. Here, in this tenth chapter, it is inti- 
mated that the descendants of Noah spoke dif- 
ferent languages. It is not however till we come 
to the eleventh chapter that we meet with any 
account of the confusion of languages. This is 
not a contradiction, but it looks suspicious. 

In the eleventh chapter we have an account of 
the building of Babel. This appears to us to be 
another fable. ^The w^hole earth was of one 
language and of one speech,' the story tells us, 
and then it adds, that they journeyed from the 
East, that is, all the people of the earth jour- 
neyed; and that as they journeyed, they found 
a plain in the land of Shinar, and dwelt there: 
that there they commenced a city and a tower 
whose top should reach unto heaven, for the pur- 
pose of making themselves a name, and of pre- 
venting themselves from being scattered abroad 
on the face of the earth. We can see no marks 
of truth or rationality about this story. It 
seems very unlikely that all the inhabitants of 
the earth should move eastward together; that 
they should take up their dwelling in one plain ; 
that they should all unite in building one city 
and tower, and all this after having so lately 
been commanded to multiply and replenish the 
earth, and after it had been told us in the previ- 
ous chapter, that they had gone into different 
parts of the world, dividing the islands and the 






m 



w,Mnim''X^rni^ 



s N, ^ ; 





u- 



xlii 



View of the Bible 



continents according to their tongues, and fam- 
ilies, and nations. 

Again, in the fifth verse we are told, that the 
Lord came down to see the city and tower which 
the children of men builded. This is another 
unworthy representation of the Divine Being, 
but in perfect harmony with most of the repre- 
sentations of God given in this book before. 
God is then represented as saying, 'Behold the 
people is one, and they have all one language, 
and this they begin to do ; and now nothing will 
be restrained from them which they have imag- 
ined to do. Go to, let us go do^vn, and there 
confound their language, that they may not un- 
derstand one another's speech.' Did God wish to 
restrain men from accomplishing great things? 
But how could the building of a tower have pre- 
vented men from being scattered abroad over 
the face of the earth? True, it might have op- 
erated as a centre of union; it might have 
served as a place of resort to those who could 
travel; but it never could have prevented man- 
kind from spreading abroad over the face of the 
earth. They must necessarily have taken in 
fresh land as the population increased, and 
consequently have spread farther and farther 
from their common centre; and in course of 
time they must have cros.sed over the mountains, 
and passed beyond the seas, in search of food 
and necessaries. No, the erection of a city and 
a tower whose top should reach to heaven, could 
never have prevented the spread of mankind 
over the face of the earth. Nor does it seem 
likely that the confounding of their language 
would have prevented them from remaining to- 
gether, or long prevented them from under- 




"sm 




Immanence of God 



standing each other. It must have required a 
miracle, entirely suspending or changing mean's 
nature, to have prevented them from under- 
standing each other for any length of time. 
Put a thousand men of different languages to- 
gether, if a thousand men of different languages 
could be found on the face of the earth, and how 
long will they remain together before they be- 
gin to understand one another? Not a day. 
They will understand one another in some things 
at once. They will understand each other in 
other things very shortly ; and before a week or 
a month had passed, they would be able to trans- 
act business, or to join in carrying forward any 
great undertaking, without difficulty. 

Besides, there is reason to believe that diver- 
sities of language originated gradually; that 
they originated as they are novj originating in 
som.e places, and as they are now passing away 
in other places. The origin of the diversities of 
language was exceedingly different, I am per- 
suaded, from that which is assigned in the ac- 
count before us. 

In the twelfth chapter, the history of Abra- 
ham commences. I am inclined to think that 
in the following parts of the history oi the Book 
of Genesis, we have less of fable, and more of 
fact; though I imagine that even here the fable 
abounds to a considerable extent, and that the 
fabulous and real are so blended together, as to 
render it impossible for them ever to be separ- 
ated. I shall not dwell on every particular part 
of the story, but make remarks on portions of 
the story here and there. I shall not confine my- 
self to remarks on the truth or falsehood of the 






















story, but give my thoughts of the character and 
tendency of its different portions. 

And, first, let me observe, that v/hile Abraham 
is set forth as a good man, a man of God, a man 
whom God has engaged specially to bless, a man 
to whom God is represented as saying, *I will 
bless them that bless thee, and curse him that 
curseth thee; and in thee shall all the families 
of the earth be blessed:' I say while Abraham is 
thus set forth as a good man, and as a special 
favourite of God, v/e are told, that when Abra- 
ham went into Egypt, he requested his wife to 
say that she was his sister, lest the people of 
Egypt should kill him in order to get possession 
of her. She accordingly called herself his sister. 
The Egyptians, as Abraham had anticipated, 
were struck with Sarah's beauty, and the 
princes commended her before Pharoah, and 
she was taken, accordingly, into Pharoah 's 
house, as a concubine or wife. Pharoah treated 
Abraham well for her sake, it is said, and gave 
him sheep, and oxen, and asses, and men- 
servants, and maid-servants, and she-asses and 
camels. And Abraham consented to allow his 
wife to be thus taken from him to be a harlot or 
a concubine to the Egyptian monarch. Rather 
than risk his life, he would teach his wife to lie, 
and lie himself, and allow his wife to be taken 
from his side by a sensual monarch, for the vilest 
purposes. We are next told that God plagued 
Pharoah and his house with great plagues be- 
cause of Sarah, Abraham's wife: that Pharoah, 
having discovered the trick that had been played 
upon him, called Abraham and said, 'What is 
this that thou hast done unto me? Why didst 
thou not tell me that she was thy wife? Why 




saidst tliou, she is my sister, &c. ? And they sent 
him away, and his wife, and all that he had/ 
Not the slightest intimation is given in the story 
that the writer considered the conduct of Abra- 
ham blamable. No expression of disapproba- 
tion of his conduct is to be found in the account. 
Yet nothing can be plainer than that his conduct 
was mean, and deceitful, and cowardly, and 
selfish, and brutal. We do not say that the same 
amount or degree of virtue could be expected of 
men in those early times as now, but we do say 
that men writing a revelation from God would 
not represent a man who could act so unworthily, 
as a special object of God's favour, without 
some explanation. A story like the one before 
us would be calculated, if taken as a revelation 
from God, to encourage lying, and cowardice, 
and brutality. We say again, if such stories had 
been found in the sacred books of the Chinese or 
the Hindoos, they would have been referred to 
as a proof that these books were the fabulous 
productions of erring and imperfect men. 

There is a story in the 13th chapter respecting 
a strife between the herdmen of Abraham, and 
of a dispute between Abraham and Lot in conse- 
quence. Here Abraham appears to advantage. 
His conduct on this occasion is truly beautiful. 
'And Abraham said unto Lot, let there be no 
strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and be- 
tween my herdmen and thy herdmen ; for we be 
brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? 
Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me : if thou 
wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the 
right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then 
I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes, 
and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was 








m 



i^^* V x::^ 








Q:^\j 
















View of the Bible 



well watered everywhere, before the Lord de- 
stroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the gar- 
den of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou 
comest "onto Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the 
plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and 
they separated themselves the one from the 
other. Abraham dwelled in the land of Canaan, 
and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and 
pitched his tent towards Sodom.' — Gen. xiii, 8 — 
12. This was noble of Abraham. Such conduct 
as this would deserve the divine approbation. 

In the next chapter we are told, that in a war 
waged by Chedorlaomer and others against the 
king of Sodom and others, the king of Sodom 
was conquered, and that Lot and his goods were 
taken, and carried away by the conquering party, 
and that Abraham, when informed of the disas- 
ter, armed his trained servants and pursued the 
captors, smote them, and brought back all the 
goods, and brought again his brother Lot and 
his goods; and the women also, and the people 
that had been captured, and that when the King 
of Sodom, whose goods and property had been 
carried away, said to Abraham, ^Give me the 
persons, and take thou the goods to thyself.' 
Abraham answered the King, and said, *I have 
lifted up my hand unto the Lord, the Most High 
God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I 
will not take from thee a thread even to a shoe 
latchet, and that I will not take anything that is 
thine, lest thou shouldst say, I have made Abra- 
ham rich. This too was a noble act, though the 
motive, as expressed in the last words, was not 
of the highest order. 

The first Priest that is mentioned in the Bible, 
is Melchizedec. The only thing that is recorded 






of him is, that he went out to meet Abraham, 
when he was returning victorious from his con- 
flict with Chedorlaomer, and the the kings that 
were in league with him, and blessed him, giv- 
ing him bread and wine and taking tithes of all 
the spoils that Abraham had taken in the war. 
This is the history of priestism in all ages. The 
priest goes forth to meet the victorious, not the 
vanquished; to bless the conqueror, and repre- 
sent his victory as the gift of God; to give the 
victorious chief a little bread and wine and take 
a tenth of all the spoils in return. I say this is 
the history of priestism in all ages ; to flatter the 
prosperous, to support the powerful, and to take 
a tenth of their property or plunder in return. 

There are several stories in th fifteenth and 
sixteenth chapters of Genesis, on which I shall 
hazard no opinion : I may, however, observe, that 
Abraham is reported to have gone in to one of 
his female slaves, and to have had a son by her, 
and that no intimation is given that his conduct 
was considered by the writer to be unnatural or 
wicked. Now nothing is more certain, than that 
adultery or polygamy is a transgression of God's 
laws. 5Ian is plainly designed for marriage, but 
he is as plainly designed for marriage with one 
alone ; and it seems to me amazing that we should 
have ever regarded a book as an unmixed revela- 
tion of truth and duty, as a perfect and infalli- 
ble guide in knowledge and righteousness, which 
could record deeds of adultery, without uttering 
a word of condemnation against them ; that could 
set forth a man as the friend of God, at the very 
time he was transgressing God's laws. 

The next thing recorded of Abraham is, that 
he gives permission to Sarah, his wife, to abuse 










^K' 













View of the Bible 



and torture Hagar, who is now with child, till 
the poor oppressed one can endure no longer, but 
is forced to flee from her cruel mistress. Yet 
nothing is said condemnatory of either Abraham 
or Sarah. Everything they do is spoken of, or 
passed over, as though it were perfectly right. 

While Hagar is seated by a fountain of water 
in the wilderness, the angel of the Lord is repre- 
sented as saying to her, 'Return to thy mistress, 
and submit thyself under her hands.' 

Now, we grant that the things that are here 
recorded of Abraham and Sarah, are at variance 
with the spirit and teachings of other portions 
of Scripture; but this does not at all alter the 
fact, that this portion of Scripture holds forth 
to our admiration as a special favorite of God, 
and to our imitation as a pattern of piety, a man 
who is guilty of lying, of cowardice, and of adul- 
tery, and who, when his bond slave is with child 
by him, gives permission to his wife to abuse, to 
beat, and torture her as she pleases, till her sta- 
tion becomes intolerable, and she flees into the 
vrilderness for safety. 

We are next told, that the angel of the Lord 
who apeared unto Hagar, told her that she was 
with child, and should bear a son, and should 
call his name Ishmael, and that her son should 
be a wild man, and that his hand would be 
against every man, and every man's hand 
against him. This is a curious story. I should 
rather myself believe that the prophecy was in- 
vented to account for the war-like character and 
habits of the Ishmaelites, than that the prophecy 
had been uttered before Ishmael w^as born. This 
prophecy is generally applied to Ishmael's de- 
scendants. It is thus applied by Newton and 




n 



Immanence of God 



Adam Clarke. Adam Clarke applies to Ish- 
mael's descendants the words that are used in 
Job xxxix. 5, 8, of the wild ass, and says, that 
^nothing can be more descriptive of the wander- 
ingj laivless, free-booting life of the Arabs, the 
descendants of Ishmael, than this passage.' He 
then proceeds to say:— 

*God himself has sent them out free; he has 
loosed them from all political restraint. TJie 
wilderness is their habitation^ and in the parched 
land, where no other human beings could live, 
they have their divellings. They scorn the city, 
and therefore have no fixed habitations ; for their 
multitude they are not afraid; for when they 
make depredations on cities and towns, they re- 
tire into the desert with so much precipitancy, 
that all pursuit is eluded; in this respect, the 
crying of the driver is disregarded. They may 
be said to have no lands ; and yet the range of 
the mountains is their pasture, they pitch their 
tents and feed their flocks wherever they please ; 
and they search after every green thing, are con- 
tinually looking after prey, and seize on every 
kind of property that comes in their way. 

It is further said, his hand shall be against 
every man, and every man's hand against him, — 
Many potentates among the Abyssinians, Per- 
sians, Egyptians, and Turks, have endeavored to 
subjugate the wandering of wild Arabs; but 
though they have had temporary triumphs, they 
have been ultimately unsuccessful. Sesostris, 
Cyrus, Pompey, and Trajan, all endeavored to 
conquer Arabia, but in vain. From the begin- 
ning, to the present day, they have maintained 
their independency; and God preserves them as 
a lasting monument of his providential care, 




»,*-— s.^— — <^ 




^^AA/r7 



#«^ 





rni^ran 




g^ 






Q:y\f\0 



5'^ 



and an incontestible argument of the truth of 
Divine Revelation. Had the Pentateuch no other 
argument to evince its divine origin, the account 
of Ishmael and the prophecy concerning his de- 
scendants^ collated with their history and man- 
ner of life, during a period of nearly four thou- 
sand years, would be sufficient. Indeed the argu- 
ment is so absolutely demonstrative, that the 
man who would attempt its refutation, in the 
sight of reason and common sense, would stand 
convicted of the most ridiculous presumption, 
and excessive folly.' 

Now I do attempt its refutation. The argu- 
ment, so far from proving the Book of Genesis 
to be a Divine revelation in the sense in which 
The Minister and Priest uses that phrase, proves 
it to be no such thing. Could it be God's inten- 
tion that a race of men should live in a wild and 
lawless state, supporting themselves as freeboot- 
ers, as general robbers and murderers, — that their 
hands should be against every man's hand, and 
every man's against them, for thousands of 
years in succession, — and that, in order to fulfil 
a prophecy delivered in the infancy of time, law- 
lessness, plunder, war, and murder, should be 
perpetuated in their most savage forms forever? 
The notion is monstrous. I think that the man 
who can build an argument for the unmixed 
divinity, for the absolute infallibility of the Book 
of Genesis, on such a story, and on such a proph- 
ecy, does himself stand convicted of ridiculous 
presumption and excessive folly. 

But again, I do not believe that the passage 
under consideration has been fulfilled in the his- 
tory of the Arabs at all. I do not think that 
the hands of the Arabs have been against every 



II 



ii: 



Immanence of God 



man, and that every man's hands have been 
against them. The history of the world proves 
that it has not been so. The prophecy then has 
never been fulfilled. It was not fulfilled in 
Ishmael himself; and it has not been ful- 
filled in his posterity.. Indeed, had it been ful- 
filled in Ishmael, Ishmael would doubtless have 
perished in his younger days. If every man's 
hand had been against Ishmael, could Ishmael 
have possibly escaped? And if the world at 
large had been against his descendants, could 
his descendants have escaped? If the world at 
large were against the descendants of Ishmael 
at present, the descendants of Ishmael would per- 
ish in a year. The prophecy then is proved false. 
But even supposing that it had been fulfilled to 
the present time, it would have to be falsified by 
and by, or else other prophecies, of a more cheer- 
ing and godly character, must prove false; for 
many prophecies foretell a time v/hen wars shall 
cease; when peace shall spread through every 
land, and when all mankind shall be gathered 
together into one community; when there shall 
be one flock, under one shepherd ; when the king- 
doms of the world shall become the kingdom, of 
God and of his saints; when they shall not hurt 
nor destroy in God's holy mountain, but when 
the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the 
Lord, as the waters cover the sea. 

In chapter xviii., God is represented as saying 
to Abraham, that he would form a covenant 
with him ; and this was the covenant, that every 
man-child in Abraham's household should be 
circumcised, and that the man-child who was not 
circumcised should be cut off from his people. 
I need not say, Can any one believe that God 













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would ever make such a covenant? for many be- 
lieve that he made such a covenant. I believed 
it myself till lately; that is to say, I received it 
as true; I acquiesced in it; but I did it unthink- 
ingly, unreasoningly ; and others, no doubt, do 
the same. I noiv believe this story no more. I 
regard it as a fiction. I have no doubt that the 
story originated in the prevalence of circumcis- 
ion amongst a certain part of mankind, and not 
that circumcision originated in a covenant be- 
tween God and Abraham. Circumcision is a 
bloody, an, unnatural rite; it is worse than the 
custom of sacrificing animals; and God, I am 
persuaded, could never either require it, or take 
pleasure in it. * Circumcision is nothing, and 
uncircumcision is nothing : ' in other words, cir- 
cumcision is no recommendation of man to God, 
and uncircumcision is no obstacle to man's ac- 
ceptance with God, and never was. That which 
God has required of man in all ages has been, not 
that they should wound and torture their bod- 
ies, endanger their health and their life, but 
that they should avoid evil and do good; that 
they should live soberly, righteously, and godly ; 
and that they should do justly, love mercy, and 
walk humbly with their God. 

There are several other stories of less impor- 
tance in this chapter, which we may pass over 
without remark; but there is one vei'se which 
ought to be noticed, which is as follows: 'And 
all the men of his house, bom in the house, and 
bought with money of the stranger, were cir- 
cumcised with him.'— Gen. xvii. 27. From this 
it is plain that Abraham was not only a slave- 
liolder, but a ^\^\Q-'buyer; that he traded in men. 
Yet nothing is said condemnatory of this cqj^* 




Immanence of God 



duct. Tliougii kidnapping, and man-stealing, 
and trafficking in human beings are condemned 
in other parts of the Scriptures, they are con- 
nived at or spoken of as matters of course, passed 
over uncensured, in the history of Abraham, who 
is held forth as the special friend of God, and 
the pattern and example of God's people. 

In the 18th chapter, there are many things on 
which I am hardly prepared to give judgment ; 
yet there are some that must not pass unnoticed. 
Three men or three angels are represented as vis- 
iting Abraham, as eating and drinking with 
him, and as then foretelling that Sarah would 
have a son. Sarah, who overheard their conver- 
sation, LAUGHED; but being observed, and asked 
why she laughed, she denied it, and said she did 
not laugh ; yet no intimation is given that Sarah 
did wrong in this lying. She is censured for 
doubting tvhether she slioidd liave a child when 
she teas getting near a hundred years old, but 
no reproof is given to her for lying. 

In the twentieth and twenty-first verses of 
this chapter, we have the following: 'And the 
Lord said. Because the cry of Sodom and Go- 
morrah is great, and because their sin is very 
grievous; I will go down now, and see whether 
they have done altogether according to the cry 
of it, which is come unto me ; and if not, I mil 
know.'— Gen. xviii, 20, 21. Here God is repre- 
sented as sitting at a distance from Sodom and 
Gomorrah, and receiving reports of what was 
passing there from others ; but, being doubtful 
whether the reports brought to him were cor- 
rect or not, he forms the purpose of going down 
and visiting the neighborhood^ himself^ to see 
whether the people had done altogether accord- 




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ing to the reports that had reached him ; and if 
not, to Imow exactly how the matter stood. Noth- 
ing can be plainer, than that the writer of this 
book regarded God as a man; and that he con- 
sidered him limited as to place, and believed him 
to derive his knowledge of things at a distance, 
from the report of his messengers. It is also to 
be observed, that the person who is here spoken 
of as the Lord, appeal^ to be the same individual 
or individuals who ate of Abraham's butter, and 
milk, and veal^ and bread, as stated at the com- 
mencement of this chapter. It is said that Abra- 
ham lifted up his eyes and looked, and lo, three 
men stood by him. These three men Abraham is 
represented as addressing as, ]\rY Lord. *IIe said. 
My Lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, 
pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: 
let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and 
wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the 
tree : and I will fetch a morsel of bread, and com- 
fort ye your hearts ; after that ye shall pass on : 
for therefore are ye come to your servant. And 
they said. So do, as thou hast said.'— Gen. xviii, 
3—5. I know, of course, the explanation which 
certain Trinitarians would give of the matter. 
They would say that those three men were the 
Trinity ; that one of the men was God the Father, 
that the other man was God the Son, and that 
the third man was God the Holy Ghost; and 
they would account for Abraham's addressing 
those three as, ilv Lord, on the principle that 
God the Father^ God the Son, and God the Holy 
Ghost were one God. They would account, I 
suppose, for the fact that these three persons in 
the Godhead being called three 7nc7i, on the prin- 
ciple that one of them vras to be incarnated, and 




!! 



Immanence of God 



become a man, about tv/o thousand years after, 
and on the principle also, that as the three divine 
persons were one God, the incarnation of one of 
them might justly lead to the whole three of 
them being spoken of as three men. On what 
principle those Trinitarians would account for 
the fact, that these three men, Grod the Father, 
God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, needed to 
rest themselves, and wash their feet and eat^ I 
cannot tell. They no doubt would say that this 
part of the passage was exceedingly mysterious. 
Nor can I tell in what way they would account 
for the fact that God the Father, God the Son, 
and God the Holy Ghost, should all of them live 
at a distance from Sodom and Gomorrah, and 
know nothing of what was passing there but by 
hearsay; that they should have in their employ- 
ment as messengers, persons in whom they could 
not place confidence, and on whose testimony 
they could not rely; and that they should be 
obliged, when they wish to know the truth of the 
reports brought to them, to take a journey and 
go down to Sodom and Gomorrah themselves, to 
examine with their own eyes and thus see whether 
the people there had done according to the re- 
port that had rached them. I say I cannot tell 
how those Trinitarians would account for this 
part of the story. I know no explanation they 
could give of it, but the common one, that it is 
exceedingly mysterious. To me the whole ac- 
count seems a jumble of ignorance, of error, and 
confusion. One thing is perfectly plain, that 
the writer ^s notions of God were exceedingly low 
and limited. 

I may further observe, that in the seventeenth 
chapter, God is represented as saying that he 



v->S\r\A/v'^) 








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would give to Abraham and his seed the land of 
Canaan for an everlasting possession, and as 
promising that he would be their God. I judge 
from this passage that the Jews, from the earl- 
iest ages, understood that Jehovah was one God 
out of a niiniber, and that while other gods were 
the gods of other nations, he was engaged to be 
their God, theirs exclusively ; their God, and not 
the God of other nations. This notion was mani- 
festly the notion of the writer of the Book of 
Genesis, and this notion appears manifestly to 
have prevailed amongst the Jews in the time of 
Christ and his Apostles. This was one of the 
great Jewish errors which the Apostle Paul dis- 
proves in his Epistle to the Romans. He there 
proves that there is but one God, and that that 
one God is the God of the Gentiles as well as of 
the Jews; thus combating the notion inculcated 
in the Old Testament that God was a local and 
partial God; one God out of a number. 

The following part of the chapter contains an 
account of a conversation between Abraham and 
Jehovah, with respect to the destruction of 
Sodom and Gomorrah. In reply to Abraham's 
entreaty, God engages that if he should find 
tifty, forty, thirty, twenty, or even ten righteous 
persons in Sodom, he will spare the city for their 
sake. It appears from this passage also, that 
Abraham did not yet suppose Jehovah to know, 
for certain, whether there were ten righteous 
persons there or not. Jehovah is represented as 
being still in doiiht as to the number of righteous 
men that were there; as being only on his jour- 
ney to make inquiries, and as saying, *If I find 
in Sodom fifty or ten righteous men, I will spare 
the citv for their sakes. ' 





Immanence of God 



The next chapter contains the account of the 
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and of the 
events connected with their destruction. The 
first part of the chapter tells us, that tvro angels 
visited Lot at Sodom, and eat with him, and that 
before the angels lay down for the night, the 
men of Sodom compassed the house round, both 
old and young, all the people from every quar- 
ter, and demanded that Lot should bring the 
men out, that they might make use of them in 
the commission of an unnatural crime. This I 
regard both as a gross and palpable falsehood, 
and as a most indecent story. The idea that all 
the men in the city, both old and young, all the 
people, from every quarter, should come and 
make such a demand, is monstrous. The foUovv- 
ing verses make the story still more monstrous. 
Lot goes out to the men of the city, and tells 
them, that he refuses to give up his guests to be 
thus abused, and sa}^ 'I have tivo daughters, 
vrhich have not known man, let me, I pray you, 
bring them out unto you, and do ye unto them 
as is good in your eyes, only unto these men do 
nothing.' Could any mortal man make such a 
proposal as this? And if any man on earth 
coidd be found capable of making such a pro- 
posal, should we call him righteous? Impossible, 
I cannot believe that a man could make such a 
proposal, much less can I believe that a person 
who could make such a proposal, would be called 
by God himself a righteous man. 

Then follows the story of the destruction of 
the place by fire and brimstone from heaven, the 
conversion of Lot's wife into a pillar of salt, for 
looking behind her on her escape from the city to 
the mountains. I question the truth of this part 







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of the story also. I think it very probable that 
the state of the soil in that neighborhood gave 
rise to the story. The ground in the neighbor- 
hood where Sodom and Gomorrah are supposed 
to have been situated, abounds with bitumen 
pits. It was oily, pitchy. And there are fre- 
quent eruptions of a bituminous or oily matter 
from the lake near that place. From this state 
of things in the neighbourhood, the story or fa- 
ble very probably had its origin. But the idea 
that a man who could offer his daughters to be 
abused at pleasure by a whole city of men, men 
of the filthiest and most abominable character, 
should be called a righteous man, and set forth 
as an example to others, is monstrous. The idea 
that a book containing such a story could be ap- 
pointed by God as an infallible guide to truth 
and righteousness, is almost unaccountable. 

The story that follows is, if possible, more 
palpably false, and more grossly indecent, than 
what has gone before. I refer to the story re- 
specting Lot and his daughters while they were 
living in a cave in the mountains. I won't re- 
peat it, for though I am wishful to reveal the 
true character of the Bible, I cannot induce my- 
self to pollute the pages of my tract with an ac- 
count so filthy and horrible. But let it be ob- 
served, in the first place, that the elder daughter 
of Lot is represented as saying to the younger 
one, ^Our father is old/ Let the age of the father 
be taken into account, and then let the reader of 
the story judge whether that which follows 
could be true. I not only regard the story as 
merely improbable, but as absolutely impossible. 
The thing recorded never could take place. But 
if such a thing had taken place, it ought never 






Immanence of God 



to have been recorded in any iooJc, much less in 
a book intended to be read by all mankind as a 
guide to truth, to virtue, and to heaven. I be- 
lieve the story originated in the hatred which 
the Jews had to the Moabites and Ammonites, 
the reported descendants of Lot. 

In the twentieth chapter we are told that Abra- 
ham again in effect denies Sarah to be his wife, 
by calling her his sister^ and that in conse- 
quence of his faithlessness he loses his wife. The 
story, however, tells us, that God warned Abime- 
lech, the person who had taken possession of 
Abraham's wife, against touching her, &c. In 
this case Sarah joins her husband in a lie. Abra- 
ham says of his wife, 'She is my sister,' and 
Sarah says of her husband, 'He is my brother;' 
and both consent, through fear, a needless fear, 
to the vilest and most abominable arrangement. 
Yet Sarah is set forth in the New Testament as 
an example for women to follow, and Abraham, 
as an example for men to follow. Good men are 
called the children of Abraham, and Christian 
women are told that they are daughters of Sa- 
rah, if they do well, and are not terrified with 
any amazememt; as if Sarah had not been terri- 
fied, and that without reason ; and as if Abraham 
had not been cowardly, v/hen there seemed dan- 
ger. Abimelech is represented as giving Abra- 
ham a terrible, but just rebuke for his miscon- 
duct. Abraham excuses himself by saying, that 
he was afraid they would kill him for Sarah's 
sake, if they found that Sarah was his wife. 
Hence it appears, that rather than risk his life, 
Abraham would consent to have his wife taken 
and used as a prostitute. Abraham says, 'I 
thought surely the fear of God is not in this 












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place.' He seems to have thought himself more 
religions than other people, though ready to pre- 
varicate or lie, and even to give up his wife to 
prostitution. 

In the seventh verse, God is represented as 
saying to Abimelech, 'Eestore to the man his 
wife, for he is a prophet^ and shall pray for 
thee, and thou shalt live;' while it is plain, 
through the whole of the chapter, that Abime- 
lech was as good a man a^ Abraham, if not bet- 
ter. I should rather have supposed that Abra- 
ham needed the prayers of Abimelech, than that 
Abimelech needed the prayers of Abraham^ and 
that God would as soon have heard the prayers 
of Abimelech as the prayers of Abraham. True, 
Abimelech tooh the woman ; but he took her un- 
der the impression that she was an unmarried 
woman; and he surrendered her as soon as he 
Imew his error. In my judgment Abraham was 
the most criminal. 

The story contained in the seventeenth and 
eighteenth verses of this chapter, I shall not 
quote. I believe it to be false ; but whether false 
or true, it is a piece of indecency, and ought 
never to have been found in a book professing to 
be a guide to knowledge and virtue. 

The next chapter begins by telling us that Je- 
hovah visited Sarah, as He had previously prom- 
ised, and did to Sarah as He had spoken, and 
that Sarah conceived and bare a son. Then fol- 
lows an account of the expulsion of Hagar and 
her child from Abraham's house, at Sarah's 
instigation. This expulsion of Hagar and her 
child, Abraham's son, was exceedingly grievous 
to Abraham, as might be expected. But the 
next verse tells us, that God said unto Abraham, 




Immanence of God 



'Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of 
the lad^ and because of thy bond woman ; in all 
that Sarah has said unto thee, hearken unto her 
voice/ &c. Thus God comes to urge Abraham 
to obey the unreasonable demands of his wife, 
and perpetrate the unnatural deed to which she 
had urged him : and Abraham sent away Hagar, 
and hex child, his son, and she wandered in the 
wilderness till her bottle of water was gone. 
When Ishmael was on the point of perishing of 
thirst, his outcast mother sat over against him, 
and lifted up her voice and wept, and according 
to the story, had not a miracle been wrought, the 
outcast and her child must have perished. 

In the following chapter we are told, that God 
bade Abraham take his son Isaac, and offer him 
for a hurnt'Offeringy and that Abraham in obedi- 
ence to the command, went up into a mountain, 
bound his son^ and stretched forth his hand and 
took a knife to slay him, but was prevented from 
doing so by the timely interposition of the voice 
of God. Many disbelieve this story. I disbe- 
lieve it myself. If God had wished to try Abra- 
ham's faith^ he would have tried it, in my judg- 
ment, by requiring him to do something truly 
good, or to abstain from something really evil. 
It is plain that Abraham had not yet distin- 
guished himself by a consistent discharge of the 
common duties of morality. It is plain that he 
had not got rid of the fear of death,— that he 
had not broken off' the habit of lying, and that 
he had not given up slave-holding or the slave- 
trade. There was no necessity therefore to try 
his faith by requiring him to do something be- 
yond or out of the circle of common duties. 
There was enough to exercise his faith ivitJiin 




Y'y^^^fs(Wr]H- 



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that circle. If God had need to try Abraham's 
faith in order to satisfy himself respecting Abra- 
ham's character, he would have done it, in my 
judgment, by requiring of him abstinence from 
those moral evils which still clung to his charac- 
ter, or the performance of some of those moral 
duties by which Abraham had not yet distin- 
guished himself. I believe it impossible that God 
should command a man to kill his own son, and 
burn his body as a sacrifice, in any case. I be- 
lieve the story contained in this chapter to be an 
immoral one, as well as a false one; and if the 
crime of murdering their o^tl children had not 
been a most horrible and unnatural one, there 
is reason to believe that numbers of people would 
have been induced by this story to have commit- 
ted the horrible deed. 

I have read a report of one man murdering 
his child under an impression that God required 
him to imitate the virtue of Abraham; and the 
reason why Abraham has not had moi^e imitators 
is, that human nature is too good and too strong 
to be generally corrupted or perverted by such 
stories. 

Still, as I have said with respect to former 
parts of the Book of Genesis, so may I say of 
iliis part, that though the stories, in my judg- 
ment, are fables, there are still mixed up with 
many of them important religious elements. God 
is still represented in general as hating that 
which is evil, and loving that which is good ; as 
punishing the wicked, and rewarding the good. 
So far the influence of those fables is good. But 
the line between good and evil is not correctly 
drawn, and in many cases God is represented as 
conniving at evil in his favourites, and as taking 





S?Fg 




Immanence of God 



very little notice of true goodness, when found 
among the nncovenanted ones, such as Abim- 
elech. 

In chapter twenty-five, we have a very im- 
probable and indelicate story respecting the 
birth of Esau and Jacob. I shall not repeat it. 
My readers can examine it, and judge of its char- 
acter for themselves. To me there are several 
things in the story that seem improbable. It 
seems improbable that twin children of the same 
father and the same mother, should differ so 
widely from each other as is here represented; 
that one should be born red, all over like a hairy 
garment; and the other plain and smooth. It 
appears eciually improbable that the child that 
was bom second, should take hold of the heel of 
the first-born with his hand. The story con- 
tained in the 22nd verse, about the children 
struggling together before they were born, and 
about the expectant mother, asking counsel of 
God, and the explanation which the Lord is rep- 
resented as giving of the matter, namely, that 
two nations were in her womb, and two manner 
of people, and that the one should be stronger 
than the other, and that the elder should serve 
the younger, is, in my judgment, a most foolish 
and ridiculous story. It proves, too, that the 
man who wrote it, either knew little about hu- 
man nature, or that he was exceedingly thought- 
less and credulous with respect to the character 
of the tales he reported. 

It is in reference to those two children, Jacob 
and Esau, that God is represented as saying, by 
one of the prophets, 'Jacob have I loved, and 
Esau have I hated. ' But it is difficult to find in 
what Jacob's worth or virtue consisted, and in 






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what Esan's vice or wickedness consisted. There 
is not^ that I can find, in the whole story, a sin- 
gle discreditable thing recorded of Esau; nor is 
there, that I can find, a single deed of remarka- 
ble virtue recorded of Jacob. If I were to judge 
of the characters of Jacob and Esau from what 
is recorded in the Scriptures, I should give pref- 
erence to Esau's, True, Esau sold his Mrthright, 
but Jacob bought it, and bought it under circum- 
stances exceedingly discreditable to him. Esau 
sold his birthright ; but he sold it to save his life. 
He was faint and ready to die, and asked Jacob 
to give him a little of some pottage that he had 
been preparing, and the unnatural and hard- 
hearted brother had the villiany to propose that 
Esau should sell him his birthright for a littl? 
of the pottage; and Esau replied, * Behold, I am 
at the point to die, and what profit shall this 
birthright do me ? ' And Jacob said, swear to me 
this day ; and he sware unto him ; and he sold his 
birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau 
bread and pottage of lentils ; and he did eat and 
drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus 
Esau despised his birthright. ' Esau did despise 
his birthright; that is to say, he valued his life 
more than his birthright. And did wisely. What 
man of sense would not do the same ? Who would 
'not sell the privileges of a birthright, to avoid 
starvation. I wish some others had despised 
their birthright as Esau did ; it would have been 
much better for the world. If our English and 
French Aristocrats had despised their birthright, 
their country would have been far more prosper- 
ous and happy than it is. It is their umvilling' 
ness to part with their birthright as it is called ; 
it is the law of Entail and Primogeniture, made 




T 



Ti 



to prevent them from selling their birthright, 
that has done so much to impoverish and destroy 
the kingdom. Would to God that our Aristo- 
crats, and that the Aristocrats of the nations 
generail}^ had sold their birthright; it would 
have been an infinite blessing to the world. Yes, 
Esau despised his birthright, and he proved 
himself wise in so doing. He sold it to save him- 
self from starvation ; and he acted like a man of 
sense in so doing. And Jacob boitght it, and 
proved himself a selfish and ambitious man in 
so doing. He bought it 'for a mess of pottage,' 
and thus proved himself an extortioner. He took 
advantage of his brother's necessity to get hold 
of his birthright. He refused to give his brother 
a little pottage to save him from starvation, un- 
less his brother would give him his birthright in 
return ; and in doing so he proved himself one of 
the greatest and vilest of sinners, one of the most 
cruel and unnatural of the human race. I say, 
taking the story as it stands, supposing the story 
is as here recorded to be true, Esau was the bet- 
ter man, and Jacob was the worse man. Yet the 
Scriptures tells us, that God loved Jacob, and 
that he hated Esau ; which, according to the soft- 
rst interpretation, means, that God loved Jacob 
better than he loved Esau. Some v/riters foolishly 
condemn Esau for selling his birthright to avoid 
perishing, although they add: 'What shall we 
say of his most unnatural brother Jacob, who re- 
fused to let him have a morsel of food to preserve 
him from death, unless he gave him up his birth- 
right. Surely he who bought it under such cir- 
cumstances, was as bad as he who sold it. Thus 
Jacob verified his right to the name of sup- 
planter/ This is very good, only these writers 



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ought not to have contented themselves with say- 
ing, that he who, under such circumstances, 
hoicght the birthright was as bad as he who sold 
it ; they ought to have said he was much, incom- 
parably ivorse. 

In chapter twenty-six we have an account of 
Isaac telling a similar lie to that which his father 
told, and that for a similar purpose, namely, to 
save himself from death. ^And Isaac dwelt in 
Gerar. And the men of the place asked him of 
his wife; and he said, she is my sister: for he 
feared to say, she is my wife; lest, said he, the 
men of the place should kill me for Rebekah ; be- 
cause she was fair to look upon. ' It however ap- 
pears, from the after part of the story, that he 
had no need to be thus afraid; that Abimelech 
was a virtuous-, conscientious man. 

In chapter twenty-seventh we have the ac- 
count of the fraud practised upon Isaac in his 
old age, by Rebekah and Jacob, and of the conse- 
quent anger of Esau, and of Jacob's flight to 
his Uncle Laban. Isaac was old and about to die, 
and he wished Esau, who was a hunter, to go 
and fetch him some venison, and make him some 
savoury meat, such as he loved, that he might 
eat it, and that his soul might bless him before 
he died. Rebekah, who heard what Isaac her 
husband said to Esau, conspired with Jacob, her 
younger son to deceive her husband, and to de- 
fraud Esau of his father's blessing. But the 
story is too long to repeat, and my readers, or 
most of them at least, are acquainted with it, and 
all can read it as it stands in the Bible. Rebekah 
and Jacob succeeded by fraud and lying, in im- 
posing upon Isaac, and inducing him to give a 
blessing to Jacob instead of Esau. When Esau 





Immanence of God 



came back, and had found how his father had 
been imposed upon, and how he had been de- 
frauded, he was exceedingly sorrowful and an- 
gry, and resolved to be avenged on his brother. 
Rebekah, however, got Jacob sent off to his un- 
cle's, where he remained for fourteen years or 
upwards. How Esau afterwards forgave his 
brother, and even refused his proffered gifts, 
my readers have read, and may read again, for 
themselves. The remarks I would make on the 
story are these:— First, it hardly seems likely 
that Rebekah and Jacob should be aUe to im- 
pose upon their father in the way that is re- 
corded. Secondly, if they practised the imposi- 
tions recorded, they were most deceitful and un- 
worthy characters. Thirdly, if the latter part 
of the story be true, even Esau was an affection- 
ate brother, and a noble-hearted and generous- 
minded man, and Jacob was a deceitful, selfish, 
crouching brother, and an unworthy man. 
Fourthly, if all this was true, then it is impossi- 
ble that Jacob should be an object of God's spe- 
cial approbation and esteem, and that Esau 
should be an object of his abhorrence. Fifthly, 
whether the story be regarded as true or false, 
it has certainly no good tendency. The best 
character in the story is spoken of as an outcast 
from God's affectionate regards, and the worst 
characters in the story are represented as ob- 
jects of God's special love and blessing. 

The account of Jacob's sojourn with his uncle 
Laban, of the manner in which Laban opprossed 
and cheated him, of his marriage to Leah and 
Rachel, of his taking to himself the female slaves 
of Rachel and Leah, and having children by 
them, and of the bargain made between Rache.^ 
















rrm 





ii..y 



View of the Bible 



and Leah, as recorded in chap, xxx, 14 to 21, 
comes next. It would be too tedious to make 
lengthened remarks on it. Some portions of the 
story are indelicate, others of them seem exceed- 
ing improbable, and none of them, that I can 
see, are calculated to be of any moral or 
religious use. On the contrary, the story gen- 
erally represents God as working miracles to 
bless and prosper a false, a deceitful, and un- 
natural man; a man too who was a polygamist 
and an adulterer; a man whose leading charac- 
teristics were cunning, and selfishness, and fraud. 
It is doubtful, however, whether the story he cor- 
rect. Some portions of it are probably true ; but 
the truth is probably mixed with a greater 
amount of fiction. But I cannot enter into par- 
ticulars. 

In the thirty-second chapter we have a strange 
account of Jacob wrestling with a man, from 
evening till the break of day, and of his prevail- 
ing at length upon the man to bless him. This 
man is spoken of as God. Jacob is represented 
as saying, ^I have seen God face to face.' It is 
stated that Jacob, in his wrestling with God, 
had his thigh put out of joint, and the last verse 
of the chapter concludes the story as follows:— 
* Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the 
sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of 
the thigh, unto this day ; because he touched the 
hollow of Jacob 's thigh in the sinew that shrank. ' 
I should judge that this story of Jacob wrestling 
with God, originated in some foolish custom 
which prevailed amongst the Jews, of not eat- 
ing of a certain part of the animals which they 
killed. 

In the thirty-second chapter we have an ac- 




Immanence of God 



count of the meeting between Esau and Jacob, a 
meeting most creditable to Esau, supposing the 
story to be correct. 

In reference to the conduct of Rebekah and 
Jacob. One writer expresses himself very 
strongly, and in his note at the conclusion of 
chapter twenty-seven, he has these words : 

*In the preceding notes, I have endeavoured 
to represent things simply as they were. I have 
not copied the manner of many commentators, 
who have laboured to vindicate the characters of 
Jacob and his mother in the transactions here 
recorded. As I fear God, and wish to follow 
him, I dare not bless what he hath not blessed, 
nor curse what he hath not cursed. I consider 
the whole of the conduct both of Rebekah and 
Jacob in some respects deeply criminal, and in 
all highly exceptionable.' 

With respect to the story about Jacob's in- 
fluencing the offspring of Leban's cattle, caus- 
ing the sheep to bring forth ringstreaked or 
speckled lambs at his pleasure, as well as with 
regard to some other portions of Jacob's story 
shows him better versed in trickery and psychol- 
ogy than Godly affairs ; and is he not represented 
as a diviner or magician? 

*We have already seen many difficulties in 
this chapter, and strange incidents which are 
far from Holy. 1. The vicarious bearing qf chil- 
dren. 2. The nature and properties of the man- 
drakes. 3. The bargain of Jacob and Leban, as 
related ver. 32 and 35, and 4. The business of 
the parti-coloured flocks, produced by means of 
the females looking at the variegated rods, may 
be, especially the three last, ranked amongst the 
most deceitful things in this book. Without en- 





















View of the Bible 



CTimbering the page with quotations and opin- 
ions more diversified than the flocks in relation 
to Avhich they are proposed, I will say that Jacob 
was a sharp one, as is certainly shown in the fol- 
lowing : 

There is no doubt whatsoever that Jacob knew 
the psychological effect of his placing rods of 
green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree, 
pilled with white streaks, until the white showed 
in contrast to the bark, so they would appear 
streaked, would have on Leban's cattle, when 
laid before them in the watering troughs where 
they came to drink. 

These rods he was selfish and deceitful enough 
to place only before the healthier and stronger 
cows, sheep and goats, during their periods of 
gestation, so the young calves, goats and lambs, 
in their wombs, ivoitld be born ring streaked and 
speckled. ^'^ 

These, according to his subtle and knavish 
bargain, with Leban, would be his. "When the 
weaker and feebler cattle were pregnant he kept 
these streaked rods out of sight so Leban would 
get the runts and all the stunted cattle. No won- 
der this shrewd Hebrew increased, exceedingly, 
and had much cattle, and maid-servants, and 
camels and asses, while Leban 's deteriorated. 
Nice conduct for a godly man. 

That Jacob knew more about sharp tricks than 
he knew or cared for God or religion, is a glaring 
fact. That Jacob the Jew knew a few Occult 
Secrets and was not a bad hand as a Master of 
Magnetism can be doubted by the way he stealth- 
ily robbed, plundered and fleeced his father-in- 
law. 

If a man was to practice such a game today 



Immanence of God 

he would get about five years in the Joliet or 
Sing Sing penitentiary instead of being held up 
to future generations as a venerable Patriarch; 
a man of God. 

Jacoh and his flocks and his bargain with Le- 
ban are further considered in one of the notes 
in Book 2 of this volume, the note being taken 
from one of the Author's works on Occult Philos- 
ophy. 

THE CHARACTER OF JACOB. 

'The talent possessed by Jacob was a most 
dangerous one : he was what may be truly called 
a scheming man ; his wits were still at work, and 
as he devised, so he executed, being as fruitful in 
expedients as he was in plans. This was the prin- 
cipal and the most prominent characteristic of 
his life; and whatever was excessive here, was 
owing to his mother's tuition— she was evidently 
a woman who paid little respect to what is called 
moral principle; and sanctified all kinds of 
means, by the goodness of the end at which she 
aimed; which, in social, civil, and religious life, 
is the most dangerous principle on which a per- 
son can possibly act. In this art she appears to 
have instructed her son; and, unfortunately for 
himself, he was in some instances too apt a pro- 
ficient. Early habits are not easily rooted out, 
especially those of a bad kind. How far God ap- 
proved of the whole of Jacob's conduct, I shall 
not inquire it : it is certain that he attributes his 
success to divine interposition, and God himself 
censures Laban's conduct towards him : see chap. 
xxxi. 7—12. But still he appears to have pro- 
ceeded farther than this interposition authorized 
him to go, especially in the means he used to im- 












Tmmm' 



yji 




e.> 









Ixxii Vieiv of the Bible 



prove his own breed, which necessarily led to the 
deterioration of Laban's cattle; for, after the 
transactions referred to above, these cattle could 
do bnt little worth. The whole account, with all 
its lights and shades, I consider as another proof 
of impartiality of the divine historian, and a 
strong evidence of the authenticity of the Pen- 
tateuch. Neither the spirit of deceit, nor the 
partiality of friendship could ever pen such an 
account. 

True, neither the spirit of deceit nor the par- 
tiality of friendship ever could pen such an ac- 
count; nor could the spirit of knowledge, of 
truth, and of piety. It was the spirit of ignor- 
ance and of superetition, or the spirit of piety 
mixed with gross errors and sad misconceptions 
of right and wrong, and of the character and 
government of God, that originated and penned 
the story. And it is the same spirit which per- 
petuates a belief of the story at the present time. 
And the fact that the success of Jacob's trickery 
was attributed to divine interposition, is of it- 
self sufficient proof of this. So far from consid- 
ering this story as another proof of the authen- 
ticity of the Pentateuch, I consider it as another 
and as an unanswerable proof, that the Book of 
Genesis is, to a great extent, a collection of fables. 

There are certain chronological difficulties 
connected with these stories, into which I need 
not enter. I am reviewing the Bible as a relig- 
ions, a moral book. I am examining the claims 
of orthodox priesthoods, to have it regarded as 
an infallible guide to truth and duty, so that 
questions of chronolog^^ are of less importance. 

We have next the story of Joseph, which, on 
the whole, is an interesting and instructive story. 



(S?^ 








Immanence of God 

It contains some portions too which have every 
air of improbability. It is, however, on the 
whole, superior to the rest of the stories con- 
tained in this book. The history of Joseph is, 
however, interrupted in the middle, by a most 
filthy and indelicate story respecting Judah, and 
respecting Err and Onan, his sons. Fornication, 
in its vilest forms, is here treated as a matter 
of course, and stories of bargains between pa- 
triarchs and harlots are given without the slight- 
est intimation that there was anything amiss in 
such transactions. Joseph too is represented as 
a diviner or magician. He is also represented as 
lyiyig; and what is worse, he is further repre- 
sented as obtaining from all the Egyptians their 
land, on condition of supplying them with corn 
during the famine, thus securing the whole of 
the land to the monarch, and reducing the Egyp- 
tians generally to slavery. These parts of the 
history of Joseph are to his discredit, and as no 
fault is found with Joseph for those things, we 
consider the story calculated to exert an unfa- 
vourable influence upon morals and upon human 
interests. 

We come next to Exodus. Here we have an 
account of the birth of Moses, of his being cast 
out, and found by Pharoahl's daughter, land 
nursed by her as her son, of his conduct when he 
came of age, and of his labours to deliver Israel, 
his people, from their bondage in the land of 
Egypt. How much of this story is true, and 
how much of it is fabulous, I do not presume to 
say. I must, however, make some remarks on 
the contest between Moses and the Egyptian 
magicians. 

It is said that when Aaron cast down his rod 



^^ 





ml 








^^ — ) — F1 






in the presence of Pharoah, it became a serpent, 
and then it is added, that Pharoah called the 
wise men and the sorcerers, who did in like man- 
ner with their enchantments, and their rods be- 
came serpents. Aaron, however, is represented 
as having the advantage in this respect, that 
Aaron^s rod swallowed up the rods of the sorcer- 
ers and magicions. This I regard as utterly fab- 
ulous. Men generally would have regarded it 
as fabulous, if they had found it in the sacred 
books of any other nation. The story is, in my 
judgment, monstrous. 

Aaron next stretches out his hand upon the 
waters of Egypt, upon their streams, their riv- 
ers, and their ponds, and they become blood, and 
there was blood through all the land of Egypt, 
both in vessels of earth, and in vessels of stone ; 
all the waters that were in the. river were turned 
to blood ; the fish that were in the river died, and 
the river stank, and the Egyptians could not 
drink of the water of the river ; there was blood 
throughout all the land of Egypt. It is then 
added the magicians of Egypt did so with their 
enchantments, and that Pharoah 's heart iwas 
hardened. This story we consider both as fabu- 
lous and mischievous. It not only records what 
we believe to be untrue, but gives the plainest 
countenance possible to false notions respecting 
the power of magicians or sorcerers, representing 
them as able to work miracles equal to the mira- 
cles said to be wrought by Moses and Aaron. 

But here I rest. I shall carry my review of the 
Bible no farther for the present. I think it suf- 
ficient to have presented to the reader sensible 
views with respect to the earlier portions of the 
Bible. Those who are wishful to ascertain the 



:1 




o 

'A 



Immanence of God 



character of the Bible throughout, can pursue 
their own inquiries at their own leisure. They 
have only to take the Bible, and compare its 
statements with each other, with known facts, 
with the laws of nature, and with the dictates of 
common sense, and they may come to a tolerably 
correct conclusion with respect to the character 
and merits of different portions. Thus far the 
writer proceeds ; and he has done good service to 
the cause of Truth and God, who is '^aOIA- 
NENT." 





JEHOVAH AND VULCAN SA]\IE; SO DI- 
VINITY EXPERT SAYS. 

PROF. GEORGE B. FOSTER OF CHICAGO UNIVERSITY 

ALSO PLACES ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB 

AMONG THE MYTHS. 

* ' The ' appearance of God on Sinai ' was a nat- 
ural phenomenon. Doubtless it was volcanic. 
And Jehovah, to the Israelites, was a volcano 
god.'' 

So Prof. George Burman Foster of the divin- 
ity school of Chicago university declared yester- 
day in an address to the Chicago Woman's club. 

*'The church once supposed," said Prof. Fos- 
ter, *Hhat it had in the book of Genesis a strictly 
Israelite heirloom, but how impossible it is for 
Israel to have brought with it from the desert 
legends which presuppose a civilization ! 

** Assyrian and Babylonian literature has re- 
vealed to us similar stories of such high antiquity 
that there can be no doubt of the dependence of 
the biblical narratives on them. Israel received 
these legends from the lips of the Canaanites, but 











^''^^ 



View of the Bible 



^^ 




iQO 



transformed them in time and infused them into 
its own religious ideas. 

*'This was how the stories of the patriarchs 
arose— the Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob stories. 
These legendaiy figures were taken from their 
setting and made a part of the history of the 
chosen people. It would be easy to understand 
the fusion, however. Think how much Greco- 
Roman and German paganism, under a thin 
Christian disguise, has filtered into modern Chris- 
tianity."— J/ie Chicago Daily Tribime, Oct. 27, 
1908. 



^ 

1 



3 





CHAPTER I. 

THE IMMANENCE OF GOD. 

DARKNESS AND SUPERSTITION. 

This book has been published for those 
who wish to find and know the true God 
who is ^^ Immanent." The reader, by a 
careful perusal of its contents, can ascer- 
tain for himself, whether the truths which 
it contains are not in harmony with the 
laws of Self (God) which is Divine Power, 
that rises naturally within pure minds ; in 
souls uncorrupted by the teachings and 
poison of Dogmatic Theology, Priestcraft, 
Mysterious and incredible creeds and for- 
eign interpreters. 

All that can reasonably be expected of 
this work is that by it the way should be 
pointed out, which conducts eventually to 
true Wisdom ; and if you be once directed 


















''Know Thyself 



in that way, but are too indolent to follow 
it, whom can you blame if in the end you 
find yourself enveloped in disease, super- 
stition, disappointment and utter ruin. For 
just as certain as you live and breathe if 
you do not reason, investigate, think and 
act for yourself in matters of God; pre- 
ferring to walk in the mist and gloom of 
incredible creeds, and dogmatism you shall 
eventually pass into a condition foreign 
and uncongenial to your Nature, from 
which there is no retreat. 

It may also be accepted as a fact that 
any religious tenet which is foreign and 
inconsistent with the original teachings of 
The Master Jesus, is absolutely and wholly 
wrong in its beginning and in its conclu- 
sion. You, by following creeds, voluntar- 
ily choose darkness to light, and you will 
abide in darkness and superstition for you 
have preferred ignorance to knowledge. 
Some dyed in the wool christian may think 
these declarations may savour of dogma- 
tism, but they are absolutely true neverthe- 
less, and the writer is convinced that every 



;^^: 




The Immanence of God 



11 



free thinking, rational man and woman will 
come to the very conclusions which this 
book invites them if they will only, with a 
sincere desire to learn the truth, pursue the 
line of investigation laid down here. There 
are many who will do this and by their 
promulgation of the Truth millions of 
souls will learn to know the True God. 

All who believe in ''The Immanence of 
God" should teach it with sincerity and en- 
ergy; none should be idle, for the writer 
could conceive no greater misuse of life 
than to devote it to selfish idleness, while so 
many millions perish every year in the 
sloughs of superstition, ignorance and dog- 
matic theology. 

The near future will witness the labor 
of thousands of ''Christian Masters" as- 
sociated with the "Congress of Ancient 
Divine, Mental and Christian Masters," 
now being founded in this country. The 
efforts of these "Christian Masters" will 
be to teach nothing which does not seem 
to them absolutely requisite as a light to 
misguided humanity. The combined ef- 
















pv>^^nn]?WK| 



V rv A A .'\j^ 



!l 




12 ''Know Thyself 

forts of these ^^ Christian Masters'^ will be 
directed to only one point, and that point 
is the liberation of men and women from 
their present system of organized, con- 
tented and sublime ignorance, under the 
rule of Dogmatic Theology, Priestcraft, 
Creed and Superstition. Through them the 
prevailing mists and reign of selfishness 
will be dispelled. 

The writer's object in publishing this 
book is to sow the seed and to bequeath to 
misguided humanity and future genera- 
tions the glorious harvest which will arise 
from the implanting of a True Eeligion, 
and its eventual diffusion over the whole 
earth, as this Volume will be translated 
and published in the different languages 
which are spoken throughout the world. 
The flame of hope and faith which it shall 
enkindle in the souls of true men and wom- 
en will in the end spread all over the uni- 
verse. 

The writer shall pass away, but the seed 
he has sown will remain after him. There 
will be Ancient, Divine, Mental and Chris- 






The Immanence of God 13 



tian Masters, Preachers, Missionaries, and 
Martyrs of these teachings, to the end of 
time, for they are the original and pure ten- 
ets of ^^The Master Jesus." No power 
can destroy them; no creed can success- 
fully resist them. Before their final 
triumph they will meet with persecution 
equal to that of any of the other grand 
truths which selfish men have resisted, 
but have survived to bless. 

In the hour of their triumph let its pro- 
moters shun the first approaches of cor- 
ruption. From ministers and priests of 
religions and creeds this has proceeded, 
for it is they who have distorted, counter- 
feited and destroyed the original teachings 
of ''The Master Jesus." To the laity 
rather than to these does the writer com- 
mit his work, for the laity, when interested 
and earnest, are ever the truest guardians 
of the Truth; and if they be faithful to God 
(Self), the seeds here sown will never die. 
While the writer bequeaths these truths to 
the laity to guard, he exhorts them not 
to change or merge them into a mere civil 



Tjl 
















Know Thyself'^ 



or political partnership, such as the Wes- 
leyans and other creeds have done. Let 
sincere men and women beware of blending 
the principles enunciated here with any 
creed or business, for if they do their ruin 
will be speedy, and with their downfall will 
be mixed their own. 

It is true that by this means they might 
seem to prosper ; selfishness, as you know, 
more frequently thrives among misguided 
and ignorant humanity, than goodness. 
Not in vain did a Chinese philosopher say: 
^^Let a man have the heart of a kite, and 
the talons of an eagle, let him deceive his 
superiors, and oppress those below him; 
let him enlist flattery, insinuation, profH- 
gacy, and avarice on his side, and he will 
find them a lasting assistance through 
life.'' However, the triumph is only tran- 
sitory, and let those who join the Congress 
now, and in future ages beware for these 
arts surely lead to darkness and utter ruin. 

From earliest times the Masters of the 
great schools from which ^'The Master 
Jesus" received his instruction taught a 



The Immanence of God 



15 



pure system of The Immanence of God; 
that God was inherent in all mankind. 
These original teachings are not the idea 
of the modern ^^ church/' which is sedu- 
lously teaching Paulism and ancient Jew- 
ish Doctrines. Keminiscence of ' ' The Orig- 
inal Teachings" coeval with the dawn of 
mankind on earth, that exist in India, 
China, in the Central Cities, in Egypt and 
Etruria, demonstrate the ignorance and de- 
lusion of Dogmatic Theology and Modern 
ideas of God. 

There will be many things found in this 
Book which, though not ^^ accepted truth" 
in the religious world of today, have for 
ages, and even unto this very day, formed 
a part of the belief of many thousands of 
sincere men and women who desire to join 
an organization or congress whose sole aim 
is the promulgation of the pure Teachings 
of ^^The Master Jesus;" they will now 
join with you in the aspiration for a 
World's Faith. Those who give this work 
consideration will understand that the 















^N^J^A'V7 



C:^ V" 







XZJ 



author did not write it as a blind, virulent, 
ignorant uninquiring opponent of the Mod- 
ern Church. 

THE JEW AND HIS SCEIPTUEES, 
PAUL AND PAULISM. 

Any intelligent person not blinded by 
selfishness, dogmatism, and ignorance can 
see that the* Modern Church and the Peo- 
ple of this country do the Jewish people, 
as a race, a great injustice. Neither the 
people in this country nor Europe really 
understand the Jew's true standing or 
position in the world, and have therefore 
mistaken the position of the religious sys- 
tem supposed to have come from the Jews 
among the religious systems of other peo- 
ple. Again the people of today strangely 
misunderstand Paul and his teachings. 
The student and keen observer can only 
come to the conclusion that the man Paul 
has been made the advocate of the very 
system he attempted to overthrow. 

Paulism is the very opposite of Calvin- 




The Immanence of God 




istic exclusiveness and Antinomianism. 
His Epistle to the Eomans was certainly 
written to expressly advocate and assert 
the doctrine of universality against Jew- 
ish monopoly and exclusiveness. The evils 
existing today are glaring and most fear- 
ful and are to be attributed to the preva- 
lence of Judaic ideas. 

Very few men can elevate their minds 
above dogmatic theology and superstition 
so as to get a true conception of subjects 
like these and the writer could say a great 
deal more as related in Jewish Scriptures 
regarding the character of Paul, but as 
stated above very few can get at the abso- 
lute truth about the Jew and his Scriptures, 
Paul and Paulism. That the minds of the 
masses accept certain statements made by 
so-called authorities and sink in ignorance, 
in mental sloth, and sorrow with no real 
opportunity to emerge from the Pit, is 
enough to draw tears of blood from the 
eyes of those who know their shackled con- 
dition and wish them well. The writer will 
never retract or modify anything said here 










18 



''Know Thyself' 













about the Jewish people or Jewish Scrip- 
ture ; although he regards the modern Jew 
as a most desirable citizen as he has many 
warm friends among them and the world 
could produce none who are more honor- 
able or faithful. However, this does not 
blind him to the system or idea of speak- 
ing of the Jews as God's chosen people, 
nor could it be expected that it should do 
so. Those who care to read the Notes in 
Book Two of this Volume will find sufficient 
reason for the writer taking the position 
he has as outlined above and what follows 
here. 

As an ancient nation, supposed by some 
(the blind) to be God's chosen people, the 
Hebrews were guilty of some of the most 
shocking crimes ; and horrible deeds which 
blacken the Pages of History; and the 
strange part of it all is that this country 
and Europe have for many hundred years 
suffered and labored under the direst evils, 
because of the superstitious adherence to 
Judaic authority, and a belief in their pre- 




«.rfl-«^^<wO 




The Immanence of God 

tended mission as the most favored nation 
of the Lord God. 

The day has come when this superstition 
should be dispelled— rudely and roughly 
if you like— by the use of terms and lan- 
guage which can leave no loophole for the 
men and women of today to misunderstand 
or remain ignorant of the enormous crimes 
and sorrow which are traceable directly to 
the prevalence of Judaic ideas upon those 
to whom their Scriptures and books have 
come under the guise of religion and the 
word of God. Men and women of today 
should be very careful how they accept 
their subtle teachings, and the time is not 
far distant when intelligent people will be 
opposed to accepting the Jewish Scriptures 
wholesale and to look carefully before they 
accept ^^ antique Jewish teachings and writ- 
ings/' for the Word of God, as taught 
by the modern priests and ministers. 
When the Jews of Palestine and Jeru- 
salem are looked upon as a people who 
lived in a by-gone age just as any other 




mm 



c^' \j n:^? 





^^^a^vv7 




^ 










'Know Thyself' 



people or nation the modern Jew will be 
much better off. The Jewish Scriptures 
have, owing to the superstitious belief in 
Judaic Authority, done more injury to 
mankind than the religious books of all 
other people put together. There is hardly 
a Jew, of the lower order, who does not 
even to this day, as a consequence of these 
books, and the doctrine derived from them, 
exult in the horrible and foul murder of 
the innocent Jesus. They rejoice in his 
crucifixion (Murder) as that of a blasphem- 
er, an imposter, and a seditious Malcon- 
tent ; and shrink not from the superstitious 
and ignorant invocation— ^^fl'i^ blood be 
upon us and our children' '—lout regard 
it as an honor and a source of pride. 
(Matt. XXV, 11-25.) 

It is absolutely necessary, therefore, 
that the Jeiu and his Scriptures should be 
painted in their true colors^ not that the 
writer has any hatred for the Jews, but be- 
cause he prefers the absolute Truth. Are 
!we ever to obtain good from evil? Are we 




<i: 





The Immanence of God 



to do evil that good may come? Surely 
none will say so. Are we to abstain from 
stating the truth, or shall we falsify his- 
tory, in order that we may conciliate the 
Eoman and Protestant Church or the Jew- 
ish Temple? Ought we to exist along 
with false opinions that we may get this 
or that one to our side because it is exped- 
ient to do so? The writer is positive no 
sincere honest or just person would advise 
this. 

Is it not a well known maxim that ''To 
suppress the truth is to suggest a lie?'^ 
Can there be a worse suggestion of false- 
hood than to allow any person to believe 
that the Jews were the very chosen people 
of God, when their career as a body, dur- 
ing the time of the Children of Israel, has 
been a violation of every law of goodness 
and purity? There are, as has been stated 
here before, in spite of all this, many noble, 
wise and good men and women among the 
Hebrews of today ; but the doctrines of the 
many, and the books upon which they base 










11 












^f^/)^ 




Know Thyself 



those doctrines are not worthy of the Sa- 
cred attention given them. This is the rea- 
son that they have been spoken of as above 
for a pernicious sect, whether it be Eoman 
or Protestant, is the outgrowth of follow- 
ing the teachings of Jewish Scripture. 

The times and conditions of today require 
and demand free speaking; it is an age 
of smooth and slimy waters that need to 
be disturbed. Too many are conventional. 
The custom of today is to speak gently 
and kindly, and almost sympathizingly, of 
crime and criminal, disease and poverty, 
believing it is all God's Will. Humbug, 
Superstition and blind ignorance is the 
many headed sovereign King. The writer 
abhors such a condition, and detests such 
a Monarch. Superstition and Dogmatic 
Theology neither deserves, nor can it de- 
mand courtesy. As to Paul much is known 
of him and his odious passages in his writ- 
ings, and to these you are referred to for 
a better consideration of what the ^^sainf 
was. It is no wonder that Swedenborg, 




it 



The Immanence of God 




who had studied his works for over forty 
years, speaks of him as ^^a nefarious char- 
acter." Some will feel surprised at this 
statement; if they do it will be because 
they have much to learn and more than this 
will be revealed to them if they begin to 
brush aside the rubbish and get' the Truth. 
Swedenborg was a great Seer; yet if you 
treat him simply as a great man of im- 
mense knowledge and splendid intellect his 
opinion of the ^^ saint" (Paul) deserves 
high consideration and is of more real 
value than that of professional divines and 
priests, who have large emoluments to prej- 
udice their views, and dull their intellect— 
these people would like to keep men and 
women, if they could, in the same fetters 
which priest-craft and Dogmatic Theology 
forged for them decades ago, and to which 
they perpetually add a new link, as every 
olden ring becomes worn out, rusty or 
rotten. 

No book could be ever written which 
would show how man's power and faith in 























Know Thyself 

self (God) have become exterminated by 
superstition and creeds. Consonant in- 
deed to right reason and to all true ideas 
of the Divine Power (God) within the 
Temple (Man) were the teachings of 
^' Jesus The Master/' In pure and shin- 
ing lights he placed his benevolence, his 
love, his tenderness and interest in all. 
How he pleaded that his gospel be not 
partial, local, or provincial, like that of 
Jews and Paulites, but wide and all em- 
bracing, like Infinity itself. 

^^The Master Jesus" idea of God and 
his method of teaching men and women to 
believe in the Kingdom of God ^^ within 
them" when contrasted with the base, nar- 
row. Dogmatic Views of God which are 
now commonly preached, gleam out bril- 
liantly with hope for mankind. His teach- 
ings have indeed been dragged from their 
Empyreal Throne, and degraded to the 
level of a rabbinical Lar, who sacrificed 
all things for the preservation of a robber 
and an apostate tribe. Let us now restore 



.4 





The Immanence of God 



his teachings to men in all their pristine 
light and beauty. Let the true knowledge 
of God (self) tear down the pillars of the 
doctrine of an external angry God. Let 
the Power and Knowledge derived from 
learning the lesson ^^Know Thyself 
(God) rear aloft the adamantine walls of 
the True Church of the ^^ Immanent God'' 
where all may wend their way to learn 
truth, wisdom and benevolence, without one 
stain of superstition and the errors that 
are almost general today. 

In the present aspect in which ^^God" 
is presented to the popular eye, it 
is difficult either to respect, revere, or love 
him. His caprice is shocking; His injus- 
tice is inexcusable. Because the fabled 
Adam disobeyed a command, which seems 
in its trifling nature to be that rather of an 
Oriental satrap than an omnipotent God, 
and tasted an apple at the solicitation of 
his wife, God curses him, and all posterity ; 
dooms them to pain, to misery, and to 
death, and as many hold to everlasting 



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Know Thyself 



damnation in fire ; and when his fit of anger 
has departed promises that He will ap- 
pease His own wrath, by the murder of an 
innocent being, who is in truth Himself in 
another form ; so that the act of injustice, 
which He first perpetrated in consigning 
unborn millions to a punishment which 
they did not deserve, is to be wiped away by 
another act of still more odious wrong, or 
folly, namely. His own suicide in the cruci- 
fixion of His well-beloved Son, whose volun- 
tary, or, to judge from the gospels, invol- 
untary death in some inexplicable manner 
is to appease his fury, to open Heaven, and 
give admittance there to those, who, but 
for that death, must have been perpetually 
excluded. 

All nature, we are told, labors under the 
operation of a curse launched in a moment 
of angry passion by Him, who, truly re- 
garded, is exempt from all infirmity; and 
who, if He had indeed so acted, would ap- 
pear to be rather an Evil Demon, rather 
than a Beneficent Parent, and an All-wise 








11 




The Immanence of God 



Guardian. It is impossible to disguise from 
ourselves the horrid nature of this creed; 
but it is the foundation on which all mod- 
ern religion is based. 

We cannot, if we would, shut our eyes to 
it, there it stands in naked deformity, in 
undisguised and frightful wickedness. The 
priests and ministers endeavor to conceal 
its dreadful feature by dinning in our ears, 
^^ faith,'' ^^ belief," ^'mystery," and a host 
of kindred words which, like skillful jug- 
glers, they commonly use to hide their art ; 
by threats also of ^'everlasting damna- 
tion" if we admit a doubt, but scarcely a 
day passes in which it is not more and 
more demonstrated that reason will no 
longer endure a God or rather a Demon, of 
this nature; and it has become impossible 
to believe that Heaven would not reject 
him if he were there. 

That he could have been so long worship- 
ped, furnishes a curious instance how 
blindly men and women believe when they 
are under the influence of superstition; 












.^ 




fvf\ A, r, 







''Know Thyself 

and how utterly they abandon the use of 
their common sense at the command of 
priests. 

Had not men and women submitted to 
Dogmas, and wilfully resisted the very 
plainest truths, and their own common 
sense and reason, the God of the Jews, 
and superstitious adherence to Judaic and 
Oriental Myths, would long ago have been 
swept into the contempt and oblivion into 
which Pagan or Mythologic Jupiter him- 
self has fallen ; and with infinitely greater 
reason, too, for none could be as cruel as 
Jehovah. To arrest misguided humanity 
in their superstitious beliefs, is the object 
of this book ; to bring men and women back 
to a true appreciation of the God within 
them. 

Men and women will then know them- 
selves (God) and have the benefit of the 
wonderful provisions made by the Imman- 
ence of God. That mankind may find the 
^4ost'' word of The Master Jesus, which 
has been utterly hidden, perverted, or de- 



6 



The Immanence of God 



nied by priests and ministers of error from 
earliest time, is the grand object of the 
writer. Men and women must strive to 
construct a great Temple and crown it with 
the truth of ''The Master Jesus." 

Sincere deserving men and women will 
soon cease to kneel to unholy altars, with 
which the members of the sacredotal order 
have crowded up all the avenues which 
lead to truth, and waylaid those who sought 
her Throne. 

PAUL AS A TEACHER. 

What follows here is part of a letter, 
wherein one very learned man answered 
another regarding a subject similar to that 
under discussion here. 

I am sorry that you cannot see Calvin- 
ism in the Epistle to the Romans which 
you cite with approval. What is the ninth 
chapter but predestination and election? 
What is verse 21 in that chapter but the 





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30 









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^Know Thyself 



assimilation of God to an all-powerful and 
unreasoning tyrant who can do all he will 
with his own? and who is praised and jus- 
tified for doing so. But even if it were true 
that Paul wrote some few things that were 
good, how can this justify, or excuse, the 
great mass that is bad? And is not the 
soul-destroying doctrine of Faith without 
works and the blood-atonement which peo- 
ples earth with so many criminals, and hell 
with so many millions, attributed in a 
great measure to the dogmas which this 
man has laid down? To me it is perfectly 
clear that Paul wilfully and wickedly— 
a very Anti-Christ— ^ei himself up against 
Jesus, and laboured in every way he could 
to destroy the creed which He came to beau- 
tify and renew. And in this object Paul 
has been too successful. For one preacher 
who takes his text and doctrines from 
Jesus on the Sunday, there are twenty who 
take their text and their follies from Paul; 
and for one man who models his life upon 
the teachings of the Jesus, there are a thou- 




II 



The Immanence of God 



31 



sand who put their faith absolutely in the 
blood-stained homicide of the first Martyr. 
I have not been to China, but I know Eu- 
rope, and I believe it to be impossible to 
overstate the amount of sin and hypocrisy, 
and misery, which it contains. In England, 
more especially, instead of Seven Trumpet- 
bearing Angels, we have seventy-seven 
thousand who daily proclaim from the 
house tops that we are the most virtuous 
and happy of mankind,, while all around 
us gives the lie to the false pretence. I be- 
lieve that there is more vice, wretchedness, 
poverty, and ignorance, in this ^' happy 
land'^ with Paul for its teacher, and the 
Bible Society for its guardian, than in any 
other land of which we have record wheth- 
er in Present, or Past; and that our polit- 
ical system, which accumulates all the 
wealth in the coffers of the rich, while it 
makes the poor every day poorer, will end 
one day in a volcano of fire, of blood, and 
ruin. Were I asked to point out a picture 
of hell in miniature I need but lead my in- 




























''Know Thyself' 



quirer into some of the frightful slums* of 
this land and other great European cities 
where, amid dirt and filth, vermin and dis- 
ease, and poisoned air, and squalid rag- 
gery, and rotten food, and reeking cess- 
pools, the poverty stricken wretches, whom 
we count by thousands, and call our breth- 
ren, pass their days in blasphemy, drunk- 

*Long after this was written I read in that able 
newspaper, the Daily News (June 25, 1872), the fol- 
lowing sketch of part of London on the Prince of Wales's 
visit to Bethnal Green: — In modern days princes do not 
imitate the Sultan Haroun Alraschid, and it may safely 
be reckoned that the Prince of Wales had never before 
penfcv rated into the squalid precincts of Bethnal Green. 
Truly it was a strange, incongruous association, the 
glittering procession, with brilliant officials, stately 
guardsmen with nodding plumes, jingling harness, paw- 
ing horses, and powdered wigs of state coachmen — all 
this pomp and glory in Bethnal Green! The very air of 
the district is redolent of sordid poverty and human 
misery. The royal procession moved onward between 
dense rows of people, of whom a large portion have as 
familiar an acquaintance with the pangs of hunger as 
the West -end man has of the way to his club. Among 
the gazers are many gaunt, ragged men, stunted, nar- 
row chested, and spider-limbed, by privation from their 
mother's breast; of lean, wan-faced women, bare-headed, 
and in limp, dingy prints, w^ho, as they cuddled to their 
breasts hydrocephalous infants, gazed in a kind of 
stunned amazement at the novel splendour. On one side, 
as the procession moved down the road, were Boundary 
and Half Nichols streets, whither the police go with the 
intuition of experience when a thief or burglar is 
wanted; on the other. Club-row, the scene of thvi Sun- 
day morning bird fair. Lower down Royalty passed the 



The Immanence of God 



33 



enness, and the vilest moral and physical 
degradation, cursing God and the blessed 
light, execrating the day they were born, 
and filled with the most malignant hatred 
of each other, and envy of all who are 
more fortunate. And if I can show you 
many self-made hells of this kind here, can 

end of Gibraltar-walk, in the purlieus of which vestry- 
men own houses into the rooms of which ooze from the 
sewers percolates; and nearer the Museum, close ad- 
jacent to the line of route, were Hollybush Gardens, of 
good repute in the annals of blood-poisoning. It would 
have been unseemly to have asked the prince to descend 
from his carriage, and follow a guide through some of 
the dismal alleys of Bethnal Green — to enter little roomi 
where whole families pig together at night on the floor 
in their clothes; the dens whither children hardly older 
than his own youngest born, contribute to their own 
maintenance by pasting labels on match-boxes at three 
farthings the gross; the attics where the cadaverous 
weaver — descendant by expatriated Huguenot — is glad to 
ply the shuttle eighteen hours a day for less than as 
many pence; the back cellars inhabitated by half -blood- 
less women, who earn their weak tea and scanty bread 
by making shirts at 1% d. a piece, and find their own 
thread. But nevertheless these and many other kindred 
miseries abounded plenteously in the side streets and 
squalid "gardens," as bright sunbeams flashed on the 
splendour of the passing procession, as the people 
cheered the prince. And if personal experiences of the 
kind referred to were not enough for him, he might at 
least, as the carriage rolled on, glance at shops where 
are retailed viands not dreamt of in the philosophy of 
the West-end — cow heel at 3d. a pound, "Staggering Bob'* 
at a penny a slice, pork that passed the inspector by the 
skin of its teeth, traysful of doubtful "pieces'* on which, 
till the customer should arrive, the flies were luxuriating. 






















''Know Thyself' 

you wonder that there are millions of such 
which the wicked in other spheres also 
make for themselves throughout the Uni- 
verse? and which must ever exist while 
Vice, andr^elfisliness, on this earth, has 
rampant power, and Virtue is a thing to 
be praised, but slighted. And, when I go 
into an European Church, I find all this set 
down to an ordinance and institution of 
God, who has arbitrarily made these ranks 
and distinctions in society, because it is 
His Will; and those who pass their hideous 
lives in this most sad condition are meekly 
told that it is ^'that state of life to which 
it pleased God to call them." Can you find 
anything worse than this throughout the 
whole East (Orient), to which you refer 
me? Has God, indeed, cast all these peo- 
ple into this condition? Has He consigned 
them to this accursed kind of life? Has 
He made all these slums and fearful rat- 
holes, in which thousands upon thousands 
^'made in His image," are destined to live 
forever, exist in misery, and die of fever 





The Immanence of God 



and filth, from year to year? In Europe 
we are taught all this and many of us act 
upon it ; for if God, their Father, has made 
these wretches so, why should we interfere, 
or interpose between the Tempter and the 
Tempted? for is not every misfortune sent 
to man only sent as a trial by a merciful 
Creator ? and ought not the tempted mor- 
tal to withstand it bravely, like holy Job 
of old? or even as Jesus himself when 
Diabolos, or Paul, assailed him in the Wil- 
derness? Hence we shut our eyes to the 
fact that our political and wealth worship- 
ping system has produced it all, and that 
the earth is wide enough to feed all men 
well, if only our rulers recognized the truth 
and acted upon its sacred dictates. Were 
it not for the holy wellsprings of private 
charity which seem to flow without cessa- 
tion under the Auspices of those who are 
not always pious Christians, I know not 
what would be the condition of the poor in 
England ; but God surely never meant that 
our brave and industrious people should be 



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''Knoiv Thyself" 




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dependent on personal benevolence and not 
on their own right hands. But so it is. 
To resume. I have read a great deal about 
foreign people, and the result is this, that 
I find they are almost always the worse 
for intercourse ivith Europeans, whether 
they go in the guise of merchants or mis- 
sionaries. Beyond this I need not advance. 
1 have done all I could, so far as inquiry 
and research can do it, to make myself well 
acquainted with the moral condition of 
each quarter, and I find with sorrow that 
petro-Paulites (there are but few Chris- 
tians), are, as a rule, worse than the fol- 
lowers of Buddha, Brahm, or Mohammed; 
while, to give the crowning point to their 
wickedness, they hypocritically pretend 
that they are the best and purest of man- 
kind, and effect to weep over the condition 
of those lands from ivhich all true Light 
originally came, and still belongs, 

I am not a Dualist ; for that, in the ordi- 
nary sense, means a believer in Osiris and 
Typhon, Ormuzd and AJiriman, a Good 




#^c 



The Immanence of God 



37 



Principle, God, and an Evil Principle, 
Satan; each perpetually contending with 
the other for mastery and dominion— the 
one, persevering; the other, destroying- 
each probably in turn to be worshipped by 
the devotee ; the first to confer wealth and 
give prosperity ; the second to abstain from 
inflicting evil. This is the doctrine falsely 
and wickedly ascribed to the Fifth Mes- 
senger; one of the most splendid lumi- 
naries that ever shone upon the earth of 
man. I doubt if it was ever taught by any 
but such priests as now preach atonement, 
transubstantiation, and the like; though 
the petro-Paulite forgers of the New Tes- 
tament have advanced a step further, have 
sought to blend God and Devil into one by 
assigning to HIM the qualities of a Satan. 
This is the Dualism of what is falsely called 
the Lord's Prayer, in which God is en- 
treated not to lead into temptation— a5 if 
the Supreme Father of Love and Wisdom 
ivere a Jeiv Fagin, ivhose pecidiar calling 
it is to seduce and instigate the innocent 




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Know Thyself' 



into crime, and when lie has accomplished 
that awful end whose delight it is to tor- 
ment them in fire and darkness for having 
followed their Tempter. This is an inter- 
polation into the true prayer which Jesus 
taught, and which his followers polluted, 
and it is a portraiture of God which I never 
can accept ; but which I would eradicate if 
I could with fire and sword, if Reason 
failed to root it out. I am therefore, no 
Dualist. 




II 



II 




CHAPTER 11. 

THE IMMANENCE OF GOD. 

^^KNOW THYSELF." 

Know Thyself, the most comprehensive 
words that were ever uttered, the most far- 
reaching statement ever made to a pedan- 
tary people, were those of The Master 
Jesus, the lowly Nazarene, who thundered 
forth the magical words: 

**Know Thyself." 
How many are there today, who have at- 
tempted to learn anything of themselves? 
It is today as it was when ^^The Master 
Jesus" said: *^You are ever-more un- 
thankfully forgetting, yet having it re- 
hearsed in your ears forever. It is I who 
give you in a moment the draught of fishes, 
for which you had yourselves long labored 
in vain, or suffers you either to toil long 
and take nothing, or crown your labors 

39 










or-- T' ;-^r^ 
















Know Thyself' 



and efforts with a rich and unexpected 
harvest of plenty. 

^ ^ Kkow Thyself, ' ' these words were ut- 
tered by the most benevolent soul that ever 
lived; the Greatest Philosopher, and the 
only true Master that ever lived, as far as 
we know, or have any record, was ^^The 
Master Jesus," whose teachings, for ob- 
vious reasons, many times were allegorical. 
This Great Master's words rang true with 
hope for the Wise Man as well as the Hum- 
ble Woman, that faithful soul, to whom 
The Great Master said: ^^ Daughter, be of 
good comfort, thy faith has made thee 
whole.'' Matthew IX, Chapters 20-22. 

In all the wisdom of the world, in all the 
philosophy of the ages, no teachings or 
principles have ever been of any benefit 
what-so-ever to mankind, when compared 
with the principles enunciated and taught 
by *'The Master Jesus," whose teachings, 
properly interpreted, imply, ^ ' Wisdom 
resteth in the heart of him who hath under- 
standing." Meaning a knowledge of self, 
or that wisdom resteth only in the soul of 







The Immanence of God 



41 



him who has learned the dearest and most 
important lesson in the school of life, 
namely, ^^KNOW THYSELF." 

^^The Master Jesus" was great and good 
enough to say : ' ' The Kingdom and Image 
of God are within you," meaning literally 
that God is the soul, and that the soul is 
the reflex of God, or, that the substance 
of the soul is the essence of that Infinite and 
Eternal Energy from whence all life, all 
power, and all things proceed. 

Our environments, the earth, the sky 
(not Heaven), the trees, and all things, 
are only the material manifestations of an 
Eternal Energy, and Eternal Spirit (God). 

The most pitiless words ever uttered, the 
most scathing denunciation ever made, the 
most scornful words ever spoken by human 
lips were the words of this Great Master, 
the Nazarene, when he said, ^^Ye of little 
Faith." This great soul knew that ^^To 
Him that believeth (not in an imaginary 
or a man-made God) in himself (God), all 
reasonable things are possible. 

Knowing this, from personal experience, 














oe^ 
















''Know Thyself' 



having been educated to become a Master, 
he justly spoke against and denounced the 
one great crime and curse of Mankind, the 
crinue of dis-belief . 

It will be noticed by the reader that the 
writer makes the statement that Christ 
spoke from personal experience, having, as 
said before, been educated to be a Master. 
To many this term may have a different 
meaning. It will depend upon your ac- 
ceptation of what the word ^ ^Master'' 
means. Many in this country think that it 
means some ^^ Mystic," and ^' Adept,'' or 
some worker in Mystics. 

When the statement is made that Christ 
was a ^^ Master,'' it means, literally speak- 
ing, that Christ was a ^'Master" of him- 
self. That Christ was educated, that he 
had trodden the path and received the in- 
struction of the Masters in India and the 
Orient. This is a fact that is well known. 
It is also a matter of record that Christ did 
belong to the Ancient School of India, 
^^The Wise Men" of the East. 

Those who do not believe this had bet- 



The Immanence of God 



43 



ter attempt to account for the eighteen or 
more years that Christ remained in ab- 
solute seclusion and obscurity, and then re- 
peared as a worker of miracles, who 
startled the multitudes, the Scribes and 
Pharisees by his work, or better yet, they 
had better read that really good book en- 
titled, ^^The Great Work.'' 

It is important that the reader and in- 
vestigator should not overlook the fact 
that Christ himself taught the True Philos- 
ophy of life, as it has been known by those 
who have been initiated in the ^^ Great 
School of Life." 

His one great desire was to teach man- 
kind to believe, not in God, but in himself. 
Christ repeatedly told those around him, 
and it is a matter of record in the Script- 
ures that no man has ever seen God, ^Hhat 
God is within me and God is within you;" 
^^Ye hath neither heard his voice at any 
time nor seen his shape." When he re- 
quested his followers to believe, he meant 
that they were to believe in themselves. 

That the man Christ desired everyone to 







^0^ 














Know Thyself'^ 



become a ^^ Master of himself," is certainly 
true. When he made the statement that 
*^He who controUeth himself is mightier 
than he who taketh a city/' this is exactly 
what he meant, or in other words, that it is 
of the utmost importance that you ^^Know 
Thyself" (God). 

When Christ said, ^^To him that be- 
lieveth all things are possible," he meant 
that when a man believeth in himself liter- 
ally, he can through and by that belief con- 
trol himself to such an extent that he 
brings himself to a literal realization of 
that which he desires. 

The Scriptures will bear the writer out, 
when he states that Christ always said to 
the individual, who came to him to be cured 
of a disease, ^^Do you believe?" ^^Accord- 
ing to your belief be it unto you." 

It will be remembered that when the 
Disciples came to Christ and complained 
that they could not accomplish certain 
things, that he plainly told them to their 
face, that the reason they had failed was 
because they had not suflBcient control over 





The Immanence of God 



themselves to bring themselves to a state 
where they really could ^^ believe" that 
what they wished to do they would be able 
to accomplish. ^^For Faith is the sub- 
stance of things hoped for; the evidence 
of things not seen." 

The writer is not concerned about con- 
vincing anybody or discussing the fact 
as to whether Christ did or did not have 
supernatural power. His only interest in 
placing this work before the public in this 
country, at this time, is to teach man to 
*^Know Himself." And by and through 
that knowledge, to ' ' Control Himself, ' ' and 
he mightier than he who taketh a city. For 
if you do not control yourself, then you be- 
come like a wave of the sea, driven and 
tossed by the storm. 

When this is carefully considered it be- 
comes a very serious thing, for it is only in 
man's ability to control himself that he be- 
comes immune to disease and mental ail- 
ments, and that '^The Mastery of Self is 
The Making of Man." 

How many are there who read these 




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46 ''Enow Thyself 



pages who can give a proper interpretation 
of the ''Parable of the Ten Virgins," and 
the ''Parable of the Five, Two and One 

{] \ \ Talent," given by the traveler to his serv- 
ants? 

*'For whosoever hath to him shall be 
given, and he shall have more abundance, 
but whosoever hath not from him shall be 
taken away even that he hath. ' ' 

1 ilj i How many ministers, priests, and would- 
be preachers of the Gospel can explain to 
you what these parables mean? Can you 
estimate how many iDeople have been 
turned against religion, because those who 
pose as God's agents are too ignorant to 
understand or explain their meaning to 
those whom they are receiving pay to save? 
You have here the identical condition re- 
ferred to: ''Let them alone they he blind 
leaders of the blind and if the blind lead 
the blind, both sliall fall into the ditcTi/' 
When it is understood that if a man has 
*'faith in himself" to accomplish a thing, 
by that faith he will receive the power and 
ability to accomplish it, you will then un- 



TT'- 



I i 




The Immanence of God 



47 



derstand this Parable. As a simple illus- 
tration of this principle, the individual who 
has control enough over himself to bring 
himself to ^^ believe" that his body is 
healthy, and will remain in that condition, 
health will be added unto himi. 

The individual who does not ^^ believe" 
that his body is healthy, who has no ' ' self 
reliance" or ^^nner faith" that he will re- 
main healthy, then the health or strength 
that he has, through his ^^ disbelief" will 
be taken away, and he will be like the ser- 
vant who had the one Talent given him, and 
he would also be like the ^ ' Ten Foolish Vir- 
ginSi" that which he has will be taken 
away. 

Religion is one thing; Theology is one 
thing; Science is one thing; What we as- 
sume to be true is another thing. From 
none of these, however, can a man know 
himself. Christ said, ^^Seek ye the King- 
dom of God within you." It is then you 
becomie ^^A Wise Man." 

Many are concerned about the future of 
the Church. It is true, of course, that the 















rrn 



Knoiv Thyself' 

rN.N/v/: v^ horrors and desolation of materialism (due 
to materialistic, instead of a true, or spir- 
itual understanding or interpretation of the 
teachings of ''Jesus the Master,") and 
commercialism, are becoming general, and 
are preferred by many. 

These corruptions and causes are due to 
the ignorance of the priests and ministers 
to understand ''Jesus of Nazareth," and 
are sapping the very foundation of the 
Church. 

To sum the whole thing up, it is 
antiquated Dogmatic Theology that has 
brought the Church, both Catholic and 
Protestant, to a condition where the modern 
individual, who dares to think for himself, 
distrusts it and its teachings. 

The teachings of the Church today are 
purely theistical. Now, what is theism. It 
is belief in the existance of a personal God, 
one who reveals himself to man. Christ 
said, "No man has seen God." Any per- 
son who will study the teachings of the 
"Master Jesus" must come to the conclu- 
sion that he really meant the contemplation 




!l^l1 



The Immanence of God 



49 



of God within himself, when he said, ^'Be- 
hold the Kingdom of God is within you. ' ' 

Now, let us go back to the time of Christ 
[j and his teachings. Christ was murdered 
by a Jewish mob. Why? Because He called 
Himself ' ' the Son of God. " ^ ^ The Jews an- 
swered him. "We have a law, and by our law 
he ought to die, because he made himself 
the Son of God.'' This is proven— again 
when it is related, ^^And they that passed 
by reviled him, wagging their heads, and 
saying. ^^If thou be the Son of God, come 
down from the cross." The chief priests 
reviled him, also the Scribes and Elders, 
so called, by saying, ^^If he be the Son of 
Israel, let him come down from the cross, 
and we will believe him. ' ' 

Now mind you, and keep before you the 
fact that Christ taught the ^^ Immanence of 
God. ' ' Verification of this is found in that 
which follows. 

*'The Lord thy God in the midst of thee 
is mighty," ^^I have told you ye are 
God's." 

^^The Kingdom of God is within you," 







^.VvV^•^ 




vr^ w v:0 




rN\\ 














Know Thyself 



' * The Father is in me, I in Him, and we in 
you," ^^Ye are the temple of the living 
God." 

^^God is Spirit, and they that worship 
himi in spirit and in truth," ^^Seek ye the 
Kingdom of God within you," ^'For in 
Him we live, and move, and have our be- 
ing." 

*^The Master Jesus" was crucified be- 
cause He taught that God lies within man ; 
that man and God are one. ' ' I am the Son 
of God." The churches today, which pre- 
tend to understand and teach the wisdom 
of this Great Master, close their doors to 
any person who would dare teach or pro- 
fess that God, and man's power to help him- 
self, lie within himself, and there you have 
it. Just think it over, and you will see that 
the church today, owing to its blind ignor- 
ance, is in the same position toward the 
real teachings of Christ as were the Jews, 
King Pilate, the Scribes, the Elders, and 
the Chief Priests who murdered Christ. 
This is a positive fact and all the protests 
and lamentations from the so-called 





The Immanence of God 



51 



^* Christian Church" today cannot change 
it. 

The Church must take one position or 
the other in regard to the man Christ and 
his teachings, where from all the modern, 
up-to-date, so-called spiritual religion has 
come. The minister who says that Christ 
taught Theism, or a Personal God and did 
not preach the ^^ Immanence of God,'' is 
one who is blind, and is leading the blind. 

The minister who acknowledges that 
Christ did preach the ^^ Immanence of 
God,'' knows that his Church would invite 
him to try some other method of making 
his living, as it should, for he is a hypocrite 
when he continues to preach about a per- 
sonal God. This being true, any sane per- 
son will admit that the teachings of the 
Master as they are commonly taught and 
presented by the church today, are just the 
same as they were viewed by the Scribes 
and Elders and their murderous horde, 
who were guilty of premeditated murder, 
consequently antiquated, inadequate and 
misleading. 




















Know Thy s elf ^^ 



Every one who has ever given the mat- 
ter any serious individual thought, knows 
that there is a direct contrast between the 
conventional religious belief prevalent to- 
day, and the common views of every day 
practical business life. That is to say, 
from Monday until Saturday the individ- 
ual is all business ; but on the Sabbath he 
puts on his Sunday clothes and assumes an 
entirely different attitude, especially if he 
is a church member. 

To be plain, it must be quite evident that 
the Christian Eeligion, as it is today, does 
not harmonize very well with the week-day 
business life any more than it benefits or 
teaches man to ^^Know Himself," live free 
of disease or to prolong his earthly exist- 
ence. The Eeligion of today will never 
harmonize with the every day life, with its 
trials and sorrows, until it is presented and 
taught in the form and manner that Jesus 
preached and taught it. 

The Immanance of God, was the Cardinal 
Principle of His teachings, and the one 
great law and principle this Sublime Soul 




The Immanence of God 



53 



enunciated was ^^ Faith in Yourself,'* 
(God). 

The church today, both Eoman and 
(I Christian, teaches an impersonal man made 
God. The Eoman Church tells you that 
Salvation from an Eternal Hell, Purgatory, 
etc., is only obtained by Faith, or ^^Salva- 
tion by Faith.'' The Protestant Church 
teaches even in Sunday School Hell's fire, 
n brimstone, the Devil with a pitchfork. The 
soul that is not saved by having faith in a 
personal God shall be cast into a fiery Hell 
and burn forevermore, etc., etc. 

The true Religion of the ^^ Master Jesus*' 
is of great moral value, when properly un- 
derstood, and his true teachings, which He 
gave to the world, only need to be properly 
preached, properly and intelligently inter- 
preted, and there will be sufficient for every 
soul's need while on the earth. His teach- 
ings, however, must be understood as he 
meant them before they will ever be univer- 
sally embraced and accepted by all man- 
kind, all over the civilized world. 

The church of today, with its organized 







g^ 




ILUI 



mm 




^ 








band of ministers and priests, believe that 
many shun the church and its teachings be- 
cause they are sinners. In fact, they be- 
lieve it to such an extent that they do not 
hesitate to say that those who do not belong 
to the church are wicked, infidels and devils. 
It is a common thing, in this country to 
see an article in some Monday morning 
newspaper where some divine, (so-called) 
pours forth his wrath, anger and ignorance 
at some individual or body of people who 
have not conformed to the ^ * conventional 
religious Sunday beliefs of the Church.^' 

The truth of the matter is that the mod- 
ern theology of both Churches, Eoman 
and Protestant, is fundamentally alike. 
Their theology is selfish, dogmatic, mis- 
leading, inadequate, antiquated, confounded 
and so confused with ecclesiasticism, that 
the ordinary individual distrusts it, and 
while he may not be able to explain or real- 
ize what is wrong, he loses faith in the 
Church, and as a consequence has very lit- 
tle time or use for ^^ church manufactured'' 
religion. 



The Immanence of God 



55 



It is a fact that only about one-sixth of 
the people living in cities like New York, 
Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia attend 
church on Sunday. Eighty per cent of this 
one-sixth are women and children. 

Some writers state that the Church of 
today has no influence over every-day life. 
Whether this be true or not, it is a well 
known fact that many today regard the 
Churches with indifference and some go so 
far as to speak out against the Church, 
while others regard it with silent contempt. 
Of course, these are sinners, so the minis- 
ter states at least, and he knows. 

The up-to-date, well-read and intelligent 
business man pays very little attention to 
the ordinary minister, and very seldom 
hears or reads a sermon. 

The minister and priest who feels hurt 
and sarcastic at the sinners, and disbeliev- 
ers outside of the church, should not forget 
the fact that those outside of the church 
are, as a whole, just as moral and indus- 
trious as those within the church ; and that 
charity, honor, purity of soul and the effort 










'Know Thyself' 



rNAA^W^ 









to save and assist exist outside as well as 
within the modern Church. 

The spirit of ^^Do unto others as you 
would have others do unto you," exists in 
every earnest soul, regardless of whether 
it belongs to the Church or not. 

Evidence that Priests and Ministers are 
no more pure of soul, or that, as a rule, they 
are no more moral than any other set or 
body of men, is easily obtained. 

The Chicago Tribune, under date of Sep- 
tember 22d, 1908, contains on its first page 
in bold type, a notice as follows : 

''Order Inquiry on Rector/' 

This article states that a committee has 
been appointed to investigate charges 
brought by a number of choir boys against 
the rector of one of the Episcopal Churches. 

Paragraph eight of the same article 
reads. ^^ Testimony of the boys who have 
made affidavits against the rector will be 
presented orally." 

If this is not enough to convince you that 
some of these so-called divines are as 



The Immanence of God 



57 





mrm 



'^m^ 



Jesus said, ^^ Blind Guides," and only 
human, you can turn to page six of the 
same newspaper, same date, and read ar- 
ticle number two, second column, on the 
good conduct of the modern preacher, it 
may help you to see that the church fails. 
That the doctrines of religion have failed 
to secure the professed object of the church, 
or to promote self-control or purity of the 
heart, even in ministers, there can be no 
doubt whatever. 

This article states in bold head-line type, 
^^Name of Pastor Involved." In the first 

paragraph we read that Mr. bases 

his suit on an alleged indiscretion com- 
mitted by his wife. He names as core- 
spondent a minister, the Eev. . 

While the first paragraph states the suit 
for divorce by the wronged husband on the 
'^alleged indiscretion" of his wife, para- 
graph five reads as follows : 

Mr. testified that one night he had 

occasion to go to a down-stairs room for 
a glass of water. His attention was at- 
tracted by a light pouring through a key- 







ILXJI 




I 



58 



"Knoic Thyself" 



^V^ 





mm 




hole, and looking through, he saw Mrs. 

and . Mr. paid four more 

visits to the keyhole on as many evenings 
with the same results, he testified. 

The moral conduct of many divines is 
not much better, according to newspaper 
reports, than those who took the monastic 
vow of the life of celibacy. In other words, 
the religion of the modern church does not 
seem to be able to accomplish its professed 
object, even so far as to assist some of its 
ministers in maintaining and defending 
their chastity. 

Eegarding those who took the monastic 
vow, we find by referring to ascetic writers 
that the usage of certain faiths has doubt- 
less been instituted from good motives. 
Experience, however, has shown many of 
them to be morally objectionable. The 
celibacy of the olden times was based on the 
expressions in which St. Paul recommends 
Ihe unmarried state, rather than the mar- 
ried state, as more favorable to a devout 
life. But to make that which suits excep- 
tional persons into a law binding on the 



C:^ V 




The Immanence of God 



59 



average person must always incur the risk 
of abuse. History shows that moral evil 
from this cause has been very widespread. 
After an examination of the words of the 
ascetic writers— the nature of the evi- 
dence being ^^ Unfit for publication"— the 
general result of our inquiries may be 
stated as follows : 

(1.) That the monastic vow of the life 
of celibacy failed to secure the professed 
object of the institutions in all but a few 
instances, and that it did not promote the 
purity of heart which was acknowledged to 
be its only good end. (2.) That, besides 
cutting men from the common enjoyments, 
duties, and sympathies of life, the work of 
maintaining and defending their chastity 
absorbed almost the whole energies of 
those who sincerely labored at it, so that to 
be chaste in fact and in heart was pretty 
nearly the sum of what many could do, 
even with the aid of starvation, excessive 
bodily toils, and depletic medicine, to say 
nothing of his prayers, tears, and flagella- 
tions. (3.) That the monastic institu- 










-— M 




L!r-tKmJ 







tions, even during their earlier era, en- 
tailed the most deplorable miseries, and 
generated the foulest and most abominable 
practices, so that for every veritable saint 
which the monastery cherished it made two 
wretches whose moral condition was in the 
last degree pitiable or loathsome. 

The writer has no quarrel with the 
Church nor its ministers, for there are 
many faithful, self-denying and earnest 
ministers and priests identified with the 
modern Church, and he has full knowledge 
of the unjust criticism hurled toward these 
ministers and priests by the ignorant ma- 
terialist. 

All of this, however, does not invalidate 
the facts laid down here, for it is a noto- 
rious fact that the ministers and the church 
are fast losing their hold and prestige gen- 
erally all over the world. The reason for 
this will be readily seen by those who have 
carefully and without prejudice read the 
foregoing pages of this volume. 

Some of the leading authorities on the 
subject declare that gradually and gradu- 




The Immanence of God 



61 



nm 



ally the civilized nations of the earth are 
becoming separated from, and are losing 
respect and reverence for the Christian 
faith. 

Many claims have been made by Protes- 
tant ministers that the Catholic Church is 
not holding its own. Still others claim that 
the Christian religion will in time lose its 
hold on the people. 

The fact of the matter is, that the Roman 
Church is no worse off in this respect than 
the Protestant. However, it is true, that, 
generally speaking, the people as a whole 
are displaying a strong inclination to alien- 
ate their interests from the church both 
Roman and Protestant. Again the spirit 
of the times seems to be such that those 
brave and true men who understand the 
teachings of the Master will be recognized 
by the masses as expressing the true 
Christian spirit ; and those who have in the 
past preached about a '^ Fiery Hell, the 
Eternal Punishment of Sin, the Golden and 
Pearly Gates of Heaven," from the de- 
nominational pulpit are only pleading that 



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^^«^ 



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C^'\f'<:D 



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dogmatic Theology should be accepted, 
even by the thoughtful. 

Certainly no sensible person believes 
these dogmatic teachings. The ordinary 
minister really thinks that he already 
knows enough about the Gospel and would 
throw up his hands in horror were he ad- 
vised to make a closer study of the teach- 
ings and life of the Master Jesus as re- 
corded in Matthew. It is very doubtful, if 
he did understand, whether he would dare 
to teach them. 

The writer doubts, after interviewing 
ministers on the subject, whether all of 
them really do accept or believe some of the 
statements they make. 

The regular preacher very seldom at- 
tempts to explain the teachings of the 
Master so they will assist mankind to 
health and soul salvation, or help him with 
many of the problems of earth life. 

One of the ablest writers on this subject 
says : ' ^ The ordinary way of preaching the 
Gospel is to avoid saying much about what 
the preacher believes the Gospel to be/' 





I 



The Immanence of God 



The literal truth of the whole matter is 
that the masses of today are losing inter- 
est in the ^ ^ Trust '^ religion preached by a 
minister who does not know how to save his 
own soul, who does not know how to control 
himself, who has never learned the lesson, 
^'Know Thyself," who does not even un- 
derstand the principle of curing disease as 
the Master did, who can neither under- 
stand or explain the teachings or parables 
of the Master. 

The church which attracts the most at- 
tention is not the church which has accom- 
plished the most in the direction of inter- 
vening between man and disease, so as to 
make him invulnerable or to assist him 
with his sorrows and mistakes of earthly 
affairs, neither is it the church which says 
to deserving humanity: Come imto me, 
all that labour and are heavy laden, and 
I will give you rest'' —help. 

The average church today does not pre- 
tend to give help ; it demands help, as was 
evidenced by the lamentations of a certain 
lady, who was sorely troubled because she 

















could not mail a check for fifteen dollars 
pew rent which was due as per notice 
mailed to her. 

No, the church which is respected, a suc- 
cess, is the church which can boast of hav- 
ing the best pipe organ. 

Considering all this, is it any wonder 
that the churches have to resort to sub- 
scriptions, social doings, popular adver- 
tising, etc, to attract the people in order 
to keep the churches out of financial dis- 
tress?* 

Whether the churches are saved, or 
whether they are not saved, does not con- 
cern the writer as much as the fact of 
teaching mankind to understand the Gospel 



* PASTORS WILL FORM A UNION; HOPE TO IM- 
PROVE CONDITIONS. 



Boston Minister Leads in Proposed Plan to Secure Better 
Salaries — Will Act Along Lines of Labor. 




Boston, Mass., Oct. 18. — [Special.] — Declaring that 
many of the Boston ministers are unable to support 
their families on the small salaries they receive and that 
several of them are forced to till the soil for a living, 
the Rev. Herbert S. Johnson, pastor of the Warren Ave- 
nue Baptist Church, advocates the formation of a min- 
isters' union, and a meeting of Boston pastors of all 
Protestant denominations will be called at once — The 
Chicago Daily Tribune, Oct. 19, 1908. 



The Immanence of God 



65 



and true teaching of the Master Jesus. 
The churches are supposed to save men 
and not men save the church. Then and 
only then will man have a religion which 
teaches a real, true, living faith in God 
(Himself) ; it is then that he will under- 
stand the words of the Master, who said, 
*^For whosoever hath to him shall be given, 
and he shall have more abundance, but who- 
soever hath not from him shall be taken 
away, even that which he hath/' He will 
then have a religion that will harmonize 
with his soul, and fit into his daily life ; he 
will seriously consider the spiritual mean- 
ing and use of his life. 

Every intelligent, earnest soul desires 
such a religion. Every earnest man and 
woman is waiting for it. Salvation of soul 
and body interests mankind generally. To 
know God. (Thyself) fulfills the desire of 
the soul. To teach a religion that bears 
fruit, develops soul, spiritual and bodily 
powers, places in the hands of every man 
a remedy to save himself. 

The souls who compose the civilized na- 





'Know Thyself" 




^^?g 









tions of the earth today are not irreligious. 
Earnest men and women who doubt and 
distrust religion, as it is taught by the 
church, are not sinners, neither are they 
devils because they will not encourage or 
identify themselves with a religion which 
only makes passing allusions to the essen- 
tial things of life. 

A religion that will appeal to all that is 
truest and best in mankind and is destitute 
of dogmas is one that will appeal to man- 
kind. A religion that will free man from 
disease, develop the deepest spiritual prin- 
ciples of his soul (God) and bring out con- 
fidence, self-reliance and hope, is bound to 
convert. Jesus was born with the convic- 
tion that God was, and is, in evidence in all 
things, even in the soul of man. That 
' ' God is Immanent. ' ' 

He who will study the teachings of this 
Master will learn to know God. All over the 
world people are seeking, searching and 
striving to develop and understand the 
power (God) within themselves. To asso- 
ciate the soul (God) with a personal or 



li 



% 



> 




The Immanence of God 



67 



man-made God is to identify yourself with 
the ignorance and superstition of the past 
ages. 

Once man begins to study the teachings 
of Christ as they really are, he will awake 
to the great possibilities of self (God) and 
the real true benefit to be obtained from a 
universal brotherhood of peace and good 
will toward all men. 

Every living thing on the face of the 
earth affirms the existence of a supreme, 
intelligent power and force, which is God. 
All power manifested in the universe is 
only an expression or manifestation of God. 
In the smallest flower, in the largest tree, 
as in yourself, you see God manifested. 
**God is Immanent.'^ How could God be 
outside or external from the universe? 
This fact is so obvious that one wonders it 
needs affirmation. 

The minister and priest speak of God as 
if he were separate from us, sitting in some 
unknown spot, keeping tab on all out move- 
ments and actions ; angry, when we disobey 
him and happy when we obey him ; always 


















sr^ 





Know Thyself' 



watching, fretting, and ready to destroy or 
smite down those who do not become saved. 
Of course it would not do to make fun of 
such an important subject, but how many 
can accept the statement that Jesus was the 
only begotten Son of God, whom God pre- 
ordained should suffer and die an ignoble 
death at the hands of a crazy mob of ignor- 
ant, misguided, revengeful people. 

Any person will see that this and other 
accepted standard statements of the 
Church do not explain or show to man his 
true relationship to God, the '^all power" 
in the world. 









cr-^ \j: •-;:: o^- xr ^>:;} ^- v '<::DQ:y xr 




CHAPTER III. 

THE MURDER OF ^^THE MASTER 
JESUS/' 

The faith and religion of the Christian 
Church has been partially indicated in the 
foregoing chapter. To be plain and brief 
the assumption of the Church is that God 
preordained that the Gralilean should die 
on Calvary's cross; should become, as it 
were, a sort of a self-offering for our sins 
and transgressions. 

How is it that Jesus should be put to 
death to save future generations yet un- 
born and who had as yet committed no sin 
or transgression against a whimsical God? 
This would seem like paying a debt before 
it had been made. 

Now let us approach and handle the sub- 
ject under consideration from a sane and 
common sense standpoint, and take a nor- 
mal, everyday, practical, human view of the 

69 



r^yvy?2 





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7\rrvk'.. 



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>Q> V^^C 



-THPE^^!^ 



70 



''Know Thyself' 












subject matter under consideration. To do 
this we must eliminate superstition, senti- 
mentalism, creed, dogmas, selfish purposes 
and personal designs. The individual who 
allows his views to become either senti- 
mental or conventional will always arrive 
at a false conclusion. 

Now, as a matter of common sense, if, in 
the beginning, as stated in Genesis, there 
was a God that was all powerful, all see- 
ing, all wise, etc., who could, according to 
the tale related in Genesis, which is simply 
and literally nothing else but an Oriental 
myth (this will be found true by those who 
make any investigation of Eastern or 
Oriental literature), make the earth in 
six days, and simply say, ^'Let there be 
light," and there was light, it is not unrea- 
sonable to suppose that if he had so de- 
sired he could have made mankind sinless, 
or so constructed the human being that he 
never would sin. 

It would be just as reasonable to accuse 
God of making an oak tree with grapes 
thereon, and then becoming angry and dis- 






The Immanence of God 



71 



appointed because they were not acorns. 
In other words, if God had intended man- 
kind to live a sinless life, then the human 
soul would be destitute of those elements 
w^hich manifest themselves, and which we 
are pleased to call sin. 

It is more reasonable to suppose that sin 
is necessary, that goodness and purity are 
only manifested, become conspicuous and 
are known because there is such a thing as 
sin. In other words, if there were no sin, 
there would be no such thing as goodness. 
If there were no darkness, we could not 
realize light. If there were no such thing 
as disease, our appreciation of health would 
be very small indeed. 

The assumption of the Church is that 
God made man, was disappointed in him, 
and sorely worried over fallen humanity; 
that his attitude toward his children was 
one of displeasure. After a while, so the 
story goes, God had a desire to save the 
children of the earth from sin, and in order 
to accompish this it was necessary for him 
to sacrifice his only begotten Son. It is not 
















72 


"Knoic Thyself" 



told who demanded this justice, whether 
it was an idea that God had or whether 

S"^v"'-- somebody above God dictated it. How- 

11 1^ ever, it seems patent that justice demanded 

[l^-^---- : that mankind be punished. 

The means of saving us from punish- 
ment and eternal torment, so the tale con- 

5 tinues, was found in the son of God, whose 

fate it was to intercede for fallen humanity. 
If we accept the story literally, God pre- 
conceived the whole idea and scheme, stage 
settings and all, for the blackest, foulest, 
most cowardly deed recorded on the pages 
of the history of the universe, the murder 

- ^ of the Master Jesus. Jesus must become a 

sacrifice, according to the orthodox view, 
die a tragic death at the hands of his ene- 
mies, be reviled, tortured by those whom he 
had attempted to teach; those he had 
worked, early and late to help, were to kill 
^ him on the cross. 

"What a horrible deed, what a revolting, 
tragic manifestation of the blood-thirsty 
vengeance of a maddened mob. Mobs of this 

. _- kind and type swept the streets at Spring- 



U 



^V^ 






The Immanence of God 



field, 111. Popular half-crazed passion ex- 
ists today as it did at the cross. "What an 
object lesson to place before an already sin- 
ful people, what a conspicuous, glaring 
staging of crime by God ! 

Still we are told that this same God com- 
manded, ' ' Thou shalt not kill. ' ' If this be 
true, why did he excite mankind, whom he 
was trying to teach to ^^Sin no more," to 
commit such a dastardly murder. Many 
will say that this was God's plan of saving 
fallen humanity. Here we have the same 
old threadworn, conventional excuse; the 
same old musty garment which many jump 
into to hide their ignorance and to protect 
their chosen religion or creed. 

For a long time, founders of the Chris- 
tian religion and their successors, who 
teach Dogmatic Theology, have tried to 
show how the death of ^^The Master 
Jesus" potentially achieved the salvation 
and redemption of men. Theological 
phraseology refers to Jesus as having died 
for our sins. It would be far more sensible 
to say that the death of Jesus was due to 
the vengeance of selfish men. 




^^^y^^ 









3 



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74 




"Know Thy 


iself" 




B'f 













The salvation of men is referred to by 
these ministers in a way to impress one to 
believe that it would save posterity or suc- 
ceeding generations the afterdeath effects 
of their transgressions and sin. 

How could God, assuming that such an 
individual (Deity) exists, make it consis- 
tent that the sins of mankind would re- 
ceive atonement by having other men (those 
who murdered Jesus) become more guilty 
than mankind, by being guilty of this ter- 
rible deed, for surely their guilt would be 
greater. 

The belief that sin can be, or ever was, 
atoned for by this process will be repudi- 
ated by modern men, not interested in 
promulgating the doctrine of Dogmatic 
Theology. This is obvious. 

It seems, to make the story complete, 
that God was now satisfied with the sacri- 
ficial death (murder) of his only begotten 
son. But we, as individuals, must have 
faith in this kind of a God, or we will go 
to that place where souls burn forevermore; 
the hole of eternal torment. We as a mass 




The Immanence of God 



75 



must make peace with our Holy Redeemer, 
or suffer endless torment to please and 
satisfy a displeased God. 

If we accept this view we must assume 
that God upset the Apostles' Creed, the Ten 
Great Beatitudes, one of the tenets of 
which is, ^'Blessed are they which do 
hunger and thirst after righteousness," 
by causing his children, whom he had 
sent his son to save, to hunger and 
thirst after vengeance and blood. Again, 
God also forgot or intentionally made mur- 
derers out of his children, to whom accord- 
ing to ^^The Ten Commandments," sixth 
paragraph, he said; ^^Thou shalt not kill." 
Ex. 20:13. 

His children and, mind you, at his dic- 
tion, also disobeyed the ninth admonition 
of the commandments when they deliber- 
ately lied about the Master Jesus, for does 
it not plainly say, ^^Thou shalt not bear 
false witness against thy neighbor." Ex. 
20-16. 

In Genesis HI: 7-8: Rom. V:12, we are 
told that ^^Sin brings guilt, depravity and 

















^^F^ 










death. '^ Then God deliberately and inten- 
tionally made sinners out of his chosen peo- 
ple, for certainly there is no greater sin 
than murder and, accordingly as a matter 
of fact, those poor, ignorant, misguided 
souls who murdered the ^^ Master Jesus'' 
must have gone down to depravity and 
death. If this is true, how can these souls, 
who became guilty of sin to carry out God's 
idea, love God, when he deliberately made 
them sin? But they are supposed to do 
this very thing according to Mark XII :30- 
31. 

' ^ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
all thy heart, with all thy soul, and all thy 
mind and with all thy strength." 

What has been said on the last few pages 
of this book regarding the death of ^*The 
Master Jesus," is in accordance with the 
accepted view and belief of the Church to- 
day, referring directly, of course, to that 
part which speaks of God's idea, and the 
sacrifice of his Son. 

To attempt to justify all this is what 
the Church has been attempting to do for 





The Immanence of God 



years. That they have failed, in the eyes 
of the masses, is proven by the fact that 
the people of today are leaving the church 
and seeking the light and truth in another 
direction. It is a patent truth that no man 
will ever discover the light or find God only 
when he obeys the Master by seeking the 
^^ Kingdom of God" within himself. To 
^^Know Thyself" is to know God. 

To do this you must clear away the rub- 
bish, separate the wheat from the chaff. 
Knock, and the door will be opened unto 
you. That all will do this is not expected, 
for, 

^^ Behold, a sower went forth to sow." 

^^And when he sowed, some seeds fell by 
the wayside, and the fowls came and de- 
voured them up." 

^^Some fell upon stony places, where 
they had not much earth; and forthwith 
they sprung up, because they had no deep- 
ness of earth." 

^^And when the sun was up, they were 
scorched, and because they had no root 
they withered away." 




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Know Thyself' 



^^And some fell among thorns, and the 
thorns sprung up and choked them/' 

^^But others fell into good ground, and 
brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, 
gome sixtyfold, some thirtyfold." 

'^Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." 

^^And the disciples came, and said unto 
him. ^Why speaketh thou unto them in 
parables r " 

^^He answered and said unto them, * Be- 
cause it is given unto you to know the mys- 
teries of the kingdom of heaven, but to 
them it is not given.' " 

^^For whosoever hath to him shall be 
given, and he shall have more abundance, 
but whosoever hath not from him shall be 
taken away, even that he hath." 

^^ Therefore speak I unto them in para- 
bles; because they seeing, see not; and 
hearing, they hear not, neither do they un- 
derstand. ' ' 

^^ And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of 
Esarias, which saith. By hearing ye shall 
hear, and shall not understand, and seeing, 
ye shall see, and shall not perceive." 



» 



The Immanence of God 



Id 



^'FoY tliis peoples' heart is waxed gross, 
and their ears are dull of hearing, and 
their eyes they have closed; lest at any 
time they should see with their eyes, and 
hear with their ears, and should understand 
with their heart, and should be converted, 
and I should heal them. ' ' 

^'But blessed are your eyes, for they see; 
and your ears, for they hear." 

^^For verily I say unto you, That many 
prophets and righteous men have desired 
to see those things which ye see, and have 
not seen them, and to hear those things 
which ye hear, and have not heard them. ' ' 

^^Hear ye therefore the parable of the 
sower. ' ' 

^^When anyone heareth the word of the 
kingdom, and understandeth it not, then 
Cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away 
that which was sown in his heart. This is 
he which receiveth seed by the wayside." 

*^But he that receiveth the seed into 
stony places, the same is he that heareth 
the word, and anon with joy receiveth it. ' ' 

*^Yet hath he not root in himself, but 



S^ 












'Know Thyself 










duretli for awhile; for when tribulation or 
persecution ariseth because of the word, 
by and by he is offended. ' ' 

^^He also that receiveth seed among the 
thorns, is he that heareth the word ; and the 
care of this world, and the deceitfulness of 
riches choke the word, and he becometh 
unfruitful.'^ 

^^But he that receiveth seed into the good 
ground is he that heareth the word, and un- 
derstandeth it; which also beareth fruit, 
and bringeth forth, some an hundred fold, 
some sixty, some thirty." 

Now let us take this twenty-third verse, 
twelfth chapter of Matthew. What does 
the master mean when he speaks of the 
seed that is received into good ground? He 
means that the man who receives wisdom 
into his soul and has faith in his Himself 
(God) will bear fruit and bringeth forth 
one thirty, sixty and hundredfold. 

This is what he means in the eight verse, 
same chapter, when he says: ^'The seed 
fell into good ground (the one who has 
faith in God— (Himself), and fruit in abun- 
dance was brought forth." 




H 



II 



The Immanence of God 



81 



Now right here is where you have it; 
here you can understand what the literal 
meaning of the parable in the twelfth verse, 
same chapter, is. This verse tells you that 
if you have faith in God (yourself, remem- 
ber), you will receive and have more abun- 
dance. But if you have no faith in God 
(yourself) from you shall be taken away, 
even that which you have. 

Many who have lost their health, and 
other things that they most desired to re- 
tain, have cursed and fumed at an imagi- 
nary God, blaming him for their most de- 
plorable condition or loss. You may not 
take this view. Many will not; for the 
seed fell among thorns, and the thorns 
sprung up and choked them. 

Doubt of self (God) is the thorn that 
chokes you, my friend. Materialism and 
Dogmatic Theology, and Superstition, 
lead to the stony places. Could there be 
anything more natural, more divine, more 
sublime, than the satisfactory contempla- 
tion, faith and confidence in self (God) ? Is 
there a more beautiful sight to behold in 









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82 



''Know Thyself" 



all the world than the eyes of a child beam- 
ing with confidence and satisfaction of an 
expectant soul? Some young boys and 
girls, before their intellect becomes dulled 
by Dogmas and superstitions, have more 
confidence and faith in themselves than 
some men. 

You may say that you cannot interpret 
it this way, or take this acceptation or view 
of the words of ' ' The Master. ' ' Let me ask 
you this : Do you claim to be better posted 
than were the very disciples of '^The 
Master Jesus"? Do you not understand 
that he spoke in parables only? What other 
logical, sensible, human interpretation can 
be had? Indeed, there are many wise mor- 
tals today who had better try and under- 
stand the parable of the sower, also the 
parable of the mustard seed. 

Eemember that the harvest truly is plen- 
teous, but the laborers are few. If you can- 
not understand or interpret His parables, 
why do you profess to know so much about 
His teachings, God and Eeligion? 




Jl 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE NATURAL OR HUMAN CAUSE 

OF THE DEATH OF THE 

MASTER JESUS. 

In the previous chapter the death of 
**The Master Jesus" was considered as it 
is accepted, received and taught by the 
Modern Church. It hardly seems neces- 
sary to point out the fact that the conven- 
tional view of the Church as it is enun- 
ciated today by the minister or theologian 
presents their claims and beliefs in lan- 
guage that is vague, and many, when cor- 
nered, are unable to explain or interpret the 
teachings of The Master, and are very re- 
luctant about committing themselves b}^ 
stating just how, or why, they believe it 
was necessary for God to have Jesus mur- 
dered before he could consistently and 
freely forgive the transgressor. Surely 
the only true way to view the death of 

83 







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84 



''Know Thyself' 



Jesus is from an every-day, hmnan stand- 
point. We have no right to regard it other- 
wise. 

Of course the theological preacher be- 
lieves that the masses of today should 
accept dogmatic, theological teachings, 
whether they are a benefit or a draw-back 
to mankind in general he never stops to 
consider. 

Now let us slowly, sensibly, humanly, and 
dispassionately take up the fact of the 
death of Jesus of Nazareth on the cross of 
Calvary, and find out the earthly cause. 
What right have we to go beyond the facts 
as they are related? What right have we to 
countenance and excuse coldblooded mur- 
der at the hands of a vengeful mob ? What 
right have we to look or speculate about 
their being of divine origin? What kind of 
a religion is it that condones murder? 

The real cause of the death of Jesus was 
Ihat he was a man who would not tolerate 
the injustice that prevailed during those 
times. His soul revolted against them. 
This becomes plain on many occasions. 



II 




The Immanence of God 



His moral nature was so great that he ac- 
cepted death rather than desert the cause 
to which he devoted his life. He saw wick- 
edness - on every hand around him. His 
wonderful personality, his impressive 
teachings alarmed the Chief Priests, the 
Eulers and the Pharisees of Judea. 

It was these treacherous and unscrupu- 
lous individuals who planned his death. 
These ecclesiastical rulers and governors 
of Judea plainly saw that the young Gali- 
lean would soon have a tremendous follow- 
ing if something was not done and done at 
once. Indeed, his public ministry, brief 
though it was, aroused the people, as they 
expected he would restore their kingdom. 

Jesus plainly saw and realized that these 
rulers, priests and head men were base and 
unscrupulous rulers and priests, and that 
they were misleading the people. Know- 
ing these things, and being a man whose 
code of morals and rectitude was most 
exacting, he did not attempt to conceal his 
contempt or hesitate about publicly de- 



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nouncing 


them. That he provoked and of- 


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fended these rulers of the nation is plain; 
there could be no compromise. 

The Scribes, Priests and Pharisees then 
set to work to plan his execution. The Chief 
Priests offred Judas Iscariot thirty pieces 
of silver if he would betray Jesus. Did not 
the Chief Priests, Scribes and Elders as- 
semble together to consult and plan that 
they could take Jesus by subtility and kill 
him? 

Was he not killed at the time that two 
thieves were ? God planned all this for His 
only begotten Son? Possible, of course, but 
not probable. 

^^Then there were two thieves crucified 
with him, one on the right hand, and an- 
other on the left. ' ' 

^*And they that passed by reviled him, 
wagging their heads." 

The thirty-seventh verse of Matthew tells 
plainly that ^'The Master Jesus" was 
killed because he was accused of being 
^^KING OF THE JEWS "-as the follow- 
ing shows. 

**And set up over his head this accusa- 






The Immanence of God 



tion written, THIS IS JESUS, THE KING 
OF THE JEWS." 

The Chief Priests, Pharisees and Scribes 
wouldn't countenance this and The Master 
was crucified. If he had been in a country 
where the men were executed by decapita- 
ting or hanging, instead of killing on the 
cross, the scaffold or guillotine would be 
worn in miniature size around the neck of 
the extra pious instead of the cross. 

Now just think, isn't all this very mod- 
ern and natural in its way? Nothing very 
supernatural or mystic about all this, is 
there? It's all very human, or rather, in- 
human. 

That Jesus had provoked these men is 
true. They hated and feared him as a dan- 
gerous teacher. The Jewish people admired 
him, for he taught them as one having au- 
thority, and not as the Scribes. In fact, the 
common people loved this Great Master, 
for we read, ^^And, behold, the whole city 
came out to meet Jesus." Again we read 
where a great multitude followed h'm. 

That Jesus did not hesitate about de- 



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nouncing those who were in authority at 
that time is indeed plain. 

^^Woe unto ye, Scribes and Pharisees, 
hypocrites, ye blind guides, which strain 
at a gnat and swallow a camel. Ye are like 
unto whitened sepulchers, which indeed ap- 
pear beautiful outward, but are within full 
of dead membranes. Outwardly you ap- 
pear righteous unto men, but within ye are 
full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 

^^Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, 
how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" 

If talk of this kind did not provoke the 
rulers, and arouse their hatred so they 
desired to have Jesus put out of the way, 
it is very strange indeed. The reason is 
certainly a human one at least. 

However, what really precipitated the 
death of Jesus was his conduct in the 
Temple, where he accused the money 
changers and dove sellers of turning it into 
a den of thieves. He even turned over 
their tables and cast out those who bought 
and sold, saying: ^^My house shall be 
called of all nations the House of Prayer, 



i 



The Immanence of God 



89 



but ye have made it a den of thieves." He 
even forbade any man to carry any vessel 
through the temple. 

It was then that the chief priests and 
elders took counsel against Jesus to put 
him to death. He was forthwith arrested, 
after one of his friends had cut off the ear 
of one of the priest's servants. Jesus told 
the man to put up his sword, and after 
some further talk he was taken before 
Caiaphas, the high priest, where the Scribes 
and the Elders were assembled. As soon as 
Jesus was in custody popular opinion 
quickly turned against him. His enemies, 
the rulers of Judea, had acted with dis- 
patch. They had sized up the situation 
and their plans were successful. The mob 
howled for his life. The Priests and Scribes 
urged them on until nothing would satisfy 
them but the life of the man who was guilty^ 
of no crime, only that he had become too 
popular. 

King Pilate knew this and tried to rea- 
son with the mob, but soon saw it was use- 
less, so he declared his innocence by taking 




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'Know Thyself' 



water and washing his hands before the 
multitude, saying, ^^I am innocent of the 
blood of this just person, see ye to it." 

Jesus' death was nothing else but judi- 
cial murder. Popular, half-crazed passion 
and sacerdotal spite was gratified. The 
vengeance of a maddened mob had been 
satisfied. 

The fury of a foolish, misguided people 
had vented itself. The crown of thorns 
rested on the head of the Master. The soul 
that had been exceedingly sorrowful had 
passed on. No act of the lowly Nazarene 
showed him a moral coward. His noble 
character and courage stood the test. His 
life of self-devotion ended on the cross. 

Any person doubting that public senti- 
ment could be aroused to a point of mad- 
dened frenzy, where whole multitudes rose 
up against those who taught customs and 
religion, which were not considered law- 
ful by the Eomans, need only to refer to the 
experience of Paul and Silas, who were 
drawn into the market place unto the rulers 
of Philippi, the chief city of Macedonia, 



The Immanence of God 



91 



who quickly took them before the magis- 
trate, saying : ' ' These men, being Jews, do 
exceedingly trouble our city, and teach 
customs which are not lawful for us to re- 
ceive, neither to observe, being Romans." 

Instantly the multitude rose up together 
against them, and the magistrates rent off 
their cloths, and commanded to beat them. 
Paul and Silas then had many stripes laid 
upon them in public, and they were cast 
into prison. Wherever Paul went he re- 
ceived scourings and imprisonment, and 
many other indignities, and finally suf- 
fered death itself by martyrdom. 

Claim has been set up by some that Jesus 
was not Jewish, but an Aryan. If there had 
been any taint of proselyte's blood m the 
Master Jesus there would have been no 
hesitation on the part of the Jews, who 
made all sorts of accusations against him, 
of repudiating the claim of his being of 
royal descent. 

Testimony shows that at the time of His 
crucifixion none accused him of being of 
foreign descent. 




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Know Thyself 



Advanced Biblical students give very lit- 
tle credence to Jesus having been born of a 
virgin. Certainly nowhere in the new 
Testament is it spoken of. We do, how- 
ever, find in Galatians IV :4. ^^But when 
the fullness of time has come, God sent 
forth his son, made of a woman, made un- 
der the law. ' ' 

We find in Hindu writings that the Bud- 
dhist Messiah was born of a virgin. The 
Oriental myth about the Buddhist Messiah, 
and the Christian view of the virgin birth 
of Jesus are identical, the only difference 
being, one is an Oriental myth, the other a 
Christian dogma. 

The historical tale about the Son of God 
and redeemer of man being born at Beth- 
lehem, of Judea, is of Hebrew, Greek and 
Eoman Origin. 

Luke claims Nazareth as the home of 
Mary and Joseph. Matthew says that 
their native place was Bethlehem. So there 
you have it. What are you going to do 
about it? 

Why was it necessary for Jesus to have 



The Immanence of God 

an abnormal or supernatural birth? There 
was certainly nothing supernatural about 
Jesus or his teachings. Why is there no 
more evidence of it? Why do we find its 
parallel among the legends of India? 

We find in Al Keren, or Alcoran of Mo- 
hammed,* which is a translation giving to 
the western student particulars regarding 
the religious and civil institutions of this 
foreign nation, this statement : 

^^ Christ, the Son of Mary, was no more 
than an Apostle ; other Apostles have pre- 

*Mohammed was the law-giver of the Arabians, and the 
founder of an Empire, which, in less than a century, 
had spread itself over a greater part of the world than 
the Eomans were ever master of. 

The Worshipping of images and the doctrine of 
Transubstantiation, are great stumbling blocks to the 
Mohammedan advancement. However, any church who 
teaches this doctrine is very unfit to advance these 
people. 

The writers of the Romish Communion, in particular, 
are so far from having done any service in their refuta- 
tions of Mohammedism, that by endeavoring to defend 
their idolatry and other superstitions, they have rather 
contributed to increase that aversion and antipathy 
which the Mohammedans in general have for the Chris- 
tian religion. 

It is certain that many Christians, who have written 
against them, have been very defective this way; many 
have used arguments that have no force, and advanced 
propositions that are void of truth. This method is so 
far from convincing that it rather serves to harden them. 
The Mohammedans will be apt to conclude we have lit- 







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ceded him; and his mother was a woman 
of veracity; they both ate food.'^ 

The Bible is not a perfect and infallible 
record by any means. Of course, Dogmatic 
Theology teaches that it is the book of God, 
and some there are who think God wrote 
it. The truth is that it is a book of man, 
an ancient work which covers many cen- 
turies, and relates what men, who have 
lived and died, have to say about God, life 
and man. No one should look upon it as 
being infallible. Neither should they con- 
demn it literally. 

Jesus himself criticised and rejected 

tie to say, when we urge them with arguments that are 
trifling or untrue. We do but lose ground when we do 
this; and instead of gaining them, we expose ourselves 
and cause also. We must not give them ill words, 
either; but must avoid all reproachful language, all 
that is sarcastical and biting; this never did good from 
pulpit or press. The softest words will make the deep- 
est impression; and if we think it a fault in them to 
give ill language, we cannot be excused when we imitate 
them. The rule is. Not to quit any article of the 
Christian faith to gain the Mohammedans. It is a fond 
conceit of the Socinians, that we shall upon their prin- 
ciples be most like to prevail upon the Mohammedans; 
it is not true in matter of fact. We must not give up 
any article to gain them; but then the church of Eome 
ought to part with many practices and some doctrines. 
We are not to design to gain the Mohammedans over 
to a system of dogmas, but to the ancient and primitive 
faith. 



The Immanence of God 



95 



many statements contained in the Old 
Testament. That there is much good to be 
obtained from this ancient book cannot be 
denied, and the one who understands the 
teachings of the Master Jesus is well off 
indeed. 

However, the fact should not be lost 
sight of that the Bible, in its presentation 
of God and Life, as viewed by men (Jews) 
of bygone days is not an infallible book. 
Of course, you do not want to become a rec- 
torate, and believe that all that is related in 
the Psalms, for instance, is the manifesta- 
tion of God's word, for it certainly is 
nothing else but the heartrending cry of an 
outraged Jewish prisoner. 

The ancient books of Hebrew were some- 
times written on leather or whole skins of 
parchment. In Egypt they were written on 
Papyrus. At first they were written on 
lines the full breadth of the skin, but later 
the parchment was cut into stypers and 
divided into pages, but only written upon 
one side. Each end was attached to a 
roller, with handles, which were rolled in- 












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(^^1)^ 




'Know Thyself' 

ward towards one another. The book com- 
menced on the right side, and as each page 
was read the reader rolled it around the 
roller in his right hand, at the same time 
unrolling a fresh page from his left. This 
was called "a roll of the book,'' and each 
book of the Bible formed a separate roll, 
which, when not in use, was carefully put 
away in a metal case. 

Everybody who has read, *'A Short 
History of the* Bible'' by Bronson C. 
Keeler, knows that the contents of the 
Bible were voted upon by different councils 
of the church ; that books were included in 
early centuries which are no longer re- 
garded as a part of the sacred scriptures ; 
that many of the books now in the Bible 
were for centuries not a part of it ; and that 
bishops and synods, and councils labored 
long to agree upon what books should be 
considered canonical and what should not 
be. But the general knowledge has been 
indefinite. Few people are aware, for ex- 

*A copy of Mr. Keeler 's book can be obtained of 
de Laurence, Scott & Co., 1514 Masonic Temple, Chi- 
cago, 111., Price $1.25, cloth, prepaid. 



The Immanence of God 



97 



ample, that the book of Eevelations was for 
1,500 years rejected by the Eastern branch 
of the Christian Church, and was voted 
into the Bible by that branch at a council 
held in Jerusalem in 1672. The aim of Mr. 
Keeler's book is to go over this entire 
ground from the beginning of the Christian 
era to the present time and to furnish all 
the facts concerning the formation and de- 
velopment of the Bible canon, giving briefly 
but succinctly the views of each bishop and 
the action of every council having any in- 
fluence on the contents of the sacred vol- 
ume. Mr. Keeler does not deal in opinions. 
He simply states facts, and gives a refer- 
ence for each fact to the early Christian 
fathers and other recognized authorities; 
and it is believed that his book throws much 
light on a hitherto obscured department of 
religious history. 

*Any one who is interested can read Mr. 

*From Mr. Geo. Jacob Holyoake, London, England, 
to the publisher : 

I have often wished that some writer, who had a 
learned head and a lucid pen, would give us a brief yet 
comprehensive account of the Books of the Bible — how 
we came by them — when the world first got them — 
and what were the qualities, characters and pretensions 













N^vyv^imm' 











''Know Thyself' 



Keeler's book with great pleasure and 
profit. He gives a clear and intelligent ac- 
count of the growth of the Bible. He shows 
why books were received as inspired, and 
why they were rejected. He does not deal 
in opinions, but in facts; he refers to the 



of those who first imposed them upon credulous and 
superstitious believers. Often I have wished that if 
such a book were written, some publisher, having the 
ear of the Free Thought world, would issue it. Great 
was my surprise and pleasure when I saw at Wash- 
ington, Bronson Keeler's *^ Short History of the Bible,'' 
we have, and the marvelous number of suppressed 
Scriptures — all Christian, all curious, all instructive — 
most of them wiser, all equally authentic, and all be- 
lieved to be equally divine by those who had better 
means of judging them than we have. All who are 
Christians — all who think they ought to be — and all 
who are not — should read Mr. Keeler's * ^ Short, '' mas- 
terly and wise book. 

The New York Sun (Sunday, Oct. 9, 1881), in a 
review occupying four and one-quarter columns; — **0n 
what questionable grounds some writings were admitted 
and others excluded from the Christian Scriptures is 
briefly, yet effectively, set forth in a monograph entitled 
' ' A Short History of the Bible, ' ' by Bronson C. Keeler. 
The writer of this striking essay has not drawn his 
materials from the German rationalists, but bases all 
his assertions on the statements of Christian historians 
and commentators, and especially on the writings of 
the Christian fathers, and the ecclesiastical history of 
Eusebius, and among modern works, on Milman's *^ His- 
tory of Latin Christianity,'' and the disquisitions of 
Wescott, Davidson, Lange and Schaff. We trust that 
no one who has been led by the appearance of the re- 
vised version to ponder the origin and history of the 
sacred writings will fail to examine for himself Mr. 
Keeler 's admirable monograph. 



\Ci)C:^ 



W, 



The Immanence of God 



99 



highest authorities. He has shown exactly 
who the Christian fathers were, and the 
weight that their evidence is entitled to. 
The first centuries of Christianity were 
filled with shadow; most histories of that 
period simply tell ns what did not happen, 
and even the statements of what did not 
happen are contradictory. The falsehoods 
do not agree. Mr. Keeler must have spent 
a great deal of time in the examination of a 
vast amount of volumes, and the amount of 
information contained in his book could not 
be collected in years. Every minister, ev- 
ery college professor, and every man who 
really wishes to know something about the 
origin and growth of the Bible, should read 
this book. 

It does not lie within the scope or prov- 
ence of this work to take up the atone- 
ment as viewed by the Semitic people or as 
related in the Old Testament. The day of 
atonement in the Jewish religion was an 
occasion which was very solemnly observed. 
The ceremonies were purely sacrificial in 
their nature, and were very much like those 
of the Semitic Races. 





— TT 



§^ 






















The writer's object is not to discourage 
mankind in learning and following the 
teachings of the greatest soul that ever 
lived, The Master Jesus. 

His only desire is to have the reader ac- 
quire knowledge by a study of himself, and 
not to expect to obtain it by supernatural 
or divine revelation. 

It certainly is obvious to the intelligent 
individual, who has no ax to grind on the 
wheels of religion, or no easy living to 
make out of Christian or Roman Church, 
that supernatural or miraculous interfer- 
ences are never made with the regular 
course of nature. 

Every advance man makes in under- 
standing himself (God) and controlling 
himself benefits him. 

Every time an individual depends upon 
divine or supernatural revelation orppwer 
to help him he goes unaided. 

No record exists where divine or super- 
natural revelation has ever afforded any 
one aid or instruction in his daily affairs. 

It is of the utmost importance to man- 



The Immanence of God 

kind to know that no supernatural, miracu- 
lous or divine power ever will aid or benefit 
his physical well being. 



S^ 













CHAPTER V. 

GOD IMMANENT. 

No advanced student of nature, or any 
one who has ever given the question of 
self-hood any consideration, has any con- 
viction other than that everything, every- 
body and all that is, are subject to a uni- 
form, infinite and eternal energy. 

Intelligent investigation, unbiased by 
dogma, creed, or superstition, inevitably 
leads the sincere investigator to this con- 
clusion. 

We have around us daily thousands of 
illustrations of the uniform and unvarying 
operation of this eternal energy. 

The eternal power which is Immanent 
throughout the universe, is certainly the 
paramount and ever-present cause and 
origin of all existence, the productive 
source of all nature. 

To avoid the circumlocution involved by 

102 



--JV,^ . -— -ty«| 



I 




The Immanence of God 



referring to the supreme power and cause 
of all in such terms as Eternal Energy, In- 
finite Power, Infinite Knowledge, the an- 
cients adopted such brief words as ^^ Jove", 
*^Nivia'^ ^^Theos", ^^ Jehovah'', ^^God'', 
etc. 

The reason why the terms ^^God" and 
*^ Jehovah" are little used and generally 
avoided by the investigator, and such terms 
as ^^ Eternal Energy", etc., used, is because 
that dogmatic and theological doctrines 
have by long association literally identified 
these terms with their theological doc- 
trines, which are based on the alleged ap- 
pearance on earth of the Dieties named. 

For instance they tell you that God 
showed himself at different times and even 
was speaking in a loud voice in the Garden 
of Eden. 

The reader can now more clearly see for 
himself the bald truth and how many ac- 
cepted facts and standard statements of the 
Christian religion are founded on ancient 
and Oriental legends. Myths of the musty, 
bygone ages are utilized by the Churches 
















Know Thyself^' 



of today to obtain a working hypothesis for 
man's religion. 

The crudest legends derived from ignor- 
ant ancestry are used to convert and edu- 
cate the masses so they will accept the 
^^word" of a personal God. Correspond- 
ing inadequate ideas and symbols are used 
for this very purpose. 

Need the question be asked what profit 
has it been to mankind in general, what has 
he obtained or acquired during the long 
ages of purported divine or supernatural 
revelation and the ^^Word" of God, alleged 
to have been communicated to him by a su- 
preme exacting Deity or God. 

ENFORCED MORAL OBLIGATIONS. 

No man necessarily does right because 
he is attempting to please an Omnipotent 
God, Deity. Mankind in general lives an 
upright life because he intuitively feels that 
it is his moral duty to do so. 

Self pride, a sense of duty to one's par- 
ents, to one's family, to their fellow men, 
is the power that makes mankind in gen- 




~'M 



The Immanence of God 



105 



eral live an upright and moral life. Cer- 
tainly the Church dare not claim all the 
credit. 

Any man or woman who would, of their 
own free will, do right, and live according 
to the Golden Eule, do not need enforced 
moral obligations, any more than their 
good conduct needs to be signiJfied and 
enunciated by impressive exhortations by 
the minister or priest. 

Every church has its back-sliders. Cer- 
tainly these people know, that, according 
to the tenets of the church, this entails a 
future life of torment and punishment, and 
that to the faithful and devout, happiness, 
Golden Gates, etc., are promised. 

If moral obligation could be enforced, the 
church would have no back-sliders, and 
less people would develop a case of cold 
feet and leave, for they would prefer to at- 
tend church rather than suffer eternal 
punishment. 

Man's own common sense tells him that 
there is something wrong, and he does not 
believe the story of a future existence in 













^'^^ 



r''' 




'Know Thyself 

hell any more than he accepts the story of 
Adam and Eve, the Virgin Mary, Noah's 
Ark, etc. 

HOSTILE SECTS. 

The Pope is the whole authority, the in- 
fallible head of the Roman Church, which 
demands absolute obedience from its ad- 
herents in all the affairs of faith and 
religion. The reformed, or protestant 
Churches in this country, are very faulty, 
indeed, as their inevitable dissension and 
division into many hostile sects shows. 

These churches differ radically in mat- 
ters of faith, religion, and belief. 

The disparity between the reach and 
grasp of the Roman and Protestant Church, 
for the truth and teachings of the Master 
Jesus has engendered in them a bitterness 
of spirit, one for the other, the pathos of 
which is unknown to the outsider. Hence 
the still sad music which we hear beneath 
the banter and the persiflage of the Roman 
and Protestant Church. 

In the Roman Church we have the criti- 




The Immanence of God 



107 



cal part of idoltary and other superstitions. 
They serve as a whipping post for the Pro- 
testants. Others, among whom are the 
most advanced writers of the day, scourge 
the Church of Rome most unmercifully, 
claiming that its votaries during the ages 
that have passed, reared ^^ Egyptian Pa- 
ganism" as a powerful institution of hu- 
man slavery. 

Ignorance and superstition superseded 
wisdom and virtue, so one writer who 
claims to be able to prove all he says, 
states, and the school of Egyptian Black 
Magic, whose offspring is Paganism, 
triumphed over the School of the Masters. 

After this, so states this writer, the foun- 
dation of primitive Christianity in Eome 
was completely undermined, and the Rom- 
an Church thoroughly ^^Papanized." 

That the author of this volume knows 
far more about matters of this kind than is 
even hinted at in this work he will admit. 
That the Roman Church regards the Pro- 
testant institutions as its enemy is true. 

That modern Free Masonry and tlie Pro- 



[± 







g^ 

















testant Churches affiliate, is well known. 
That they are both descendants of an ^^ An- 
cient Brotherhood" one has more than an 
ordinary right to assume. 

The reader who scoffs at these state- 
ments would do well to obtain a copy of 
'^The Great Work" also ^'The Secret His- 
tory of the Oxford Movement/'* wherein 
he will find out a few facts that are not 
nailed on the lamp posts of the Church of 
Rome. 

The doctrines of the Protestant Church 
are a dream of Dogmatic Theology and ma- 
terialism ; to the Roman Church it is more 
than a dream, it is the desire to Romanize 
the Protestant Churches. 

If this sounds queer and doubtful to the 
outsider's ear, it will make him open his 
eyes to learn that by its subtle methods the 
Church of Rome is this very minute, slowly 
but surely, absorbing Protestant Episco- 
palianism into Roman Catholicism. 

Of course, there are many who are not 



*These books can be obtained of de Laurence, Scott & 
Co., Chicago, 111., U. S. A. 



The Immanence of God 



109 



aware of this , but wait and you will see it 
as surely as the sun sets. 

Protestant Christianity, by virtue of its 
divorce from ^^ Egyptian and Eoman Pa- 
ganism, ' ' gibes at the efforts of the Church 
of Rome to convert Protestant Churches, 
for these are the dear interests and desires, 
which its heart is still open to shelter. 

It will require some effort on the part of 
the Protestants to overcome the ^^convert- 
ing aspirations" of the Eoman Church. It 
will require some effort out of the ordinary 
to overcome the converting aspirations of 
this church, or to stay its progress in Pa- 
ganizing Protestant Christianity. 

That the struggle between the Roman 
Church on one hand, and Free Masonry 
and Protestant Christianity on the other, 
occasionally finds vent in a bitterness of 
feeling like the hatred of a deserted friend 
or the despair of a rejected lover, is true. 

One fact stands out in bold relief 
after a close study of the churches of 
the world. That fact is, all the good the 
Churches have accomplished, all they have 




c^^ 



iUJ 















Know Thyself' 



gained, all the progress that has ever been 
made by the Christian religion, is the result 
of the respect and faith the people have 
had for the teachings of ^^The Master 
Jesus, '^ ^^The Young Galilean '^ ^^The 
Jewish Devotee", who taught his followers 
no dogma ; who lived the life ; whose exist- 
ence was one of truth and self-denial; a 
pure simple life whose only object was to 
teach charity; whose only desire was to 
help others, even his enemies. 

To this great and noble soul there was no 
creed. All were one from the great God 
Head. Every man was his brother. Every 
woman was his sister. Every mother was 
his mother. 

The Master Jesus indeed had a sublime 
soul, whose tenderness and love, the mem- 
ory of which, even today arouses the spirit 
of love in every human heart, has lived long 
after him. 

His mission was to teach man to know 
himself, so he could realize his divine soul- 
ship. No wonder there are many today 
who are known as the Disciples of Jesus. 



?^ 




The Immanence of God 



111 



No wonder that both Catholic and Protest- 
ant reverence the memory of this grandest 
soul that ever lived. 

So tremendous was the personality of 
this man, so just his teachings, that even 
the Scribes and Pharisees hesitated before 
they ordered his arrest and execution. 

Selfishness, envy and hate, soon got the 
upper hand of them, however, and all the 
world knows the result. 

That the teachings and Gospel (Wis- 
dom) of Jesus of Nazareth has been the 
founding of the Christian religion, is ad- 
mitted by every church. 

Take from the Bible the sayings of the 
Master and it would be like taking a center 
pole from under a tent. True, other men 
taught and preached, but none could com- 
pare with Jesus. 

The voice crying in the wilderness, said : 
^^He that cometh after me is preferred be- 
fore me, whose shoe's latchet I am not wor- 
thy to unloose." 

Pontius Pilate, the Governor before 
whom Jesus the Master was taken bound, 
























Know Thyself' 



was impressed with the extraordinary per- 
sonality and innocence of Jesus. Certainly 
Pontins Pilate must have been a keen judge 
of men, and he would have greatly pre- 
ferred to release Jesus rather than Bar- 
abas, for he said, ^^What evil hath he 
done?" 

Judas Iscariot repented and deeply re- 
gretted that he had betrayed the man who 
had never harmed him. 

Poor, faithful Peter wept when he re- 
membered how the cock crowed thrice, and 
that even he had denied Jesus in his hour 
of sorrow and death. 

Peter was like Pilate, he was awed and 
frightened by the mob, and while it is pos- 
sible he would have given his life for Jesus, 
for the time he was certainly afraid that 
the crazy mob would wreak its vengeance 
on him as well as his Master and teacher. 

Whether the Master Jesus did or did not 
arise from the dead and return to Galilee ; 
whether his disciples really did or did not 
see the physical body of their Master resur- 
rected from the sepulchre, is not the ques- 



The Immanence of God 



113 



tion under discussion here, and those who 
desire to know all there is to learn of this 
are referred to those works which deal with 
the question exclusively, or they might 
read some of the notes in ^^Book Two." 

The fact of immortality has been suffi- 
ciently dealt with by the scientific men who 
have devoted their life to investigation of 
this kind. 

It is the writer ^s experience that the best 
way to convince the ordinary individual of 
immortality or the possibility of a soul, 
which has passed from the physical body, 
to manifest itself or communicate with a 
soul which still inhabits the body, is to let 
him convince himself. 

If the light ever shines in his eyes he will 
then know that it exists. To assume that a 
thing is true is not knowing that it is true. 
When you have had personal experience 
you will then be convinced, but not until 
then. 

























THE MONEY CHANGERS. 



It is not such a vital question about a fu- 
ture existence or the preparing of people 
for a future life as it is to teach them how 
to live right in this world. The church 
should direct men to live in the spirit that 
the Master lived. Teach men the true 
meaning of the parables of the Master. Let 
the church become the instrument and ex- 
pression of an ideal human brotherhood. 
Place before men the means of Salvation 
in this life, but do not try to frighten them 
with some legend or myth of by-gone ages 
which teaches eternal torment in an un- 
known world. 

The theological institutions and colleges 
of today are run like a down-town business 
college— operated on a basis of modern in- 
dustrialism which fosters and puts a pre- 
mium on selfishness and ignorant super- 
stition. 

The daily grind of commercial life today 
kills souls. The wealth of this vast country 
is in the control of a few selfish, grasping 
men. The unequal distribution of the 



pn 



; 




The Immanence of God 



wealth of the nation gives an abundance 
to a few and poverty, sorrow and pain to 
the toiling masses. The Christian spirit 
of The Master is ground under the stand- 
ards of what we are proud to call ^^com- 
mercial life." It could be far more prop- 
erly called the ^^ grinding life." Selfish- 
ness rules the body politic. Wealth con- 
trols. 

Public sentiment will continue to pile up 
against these men, the money Barons, rath- 
er than diminish under the present arbi- 
trary system, for no party can accomplish 
or obtain a single reform except by a com- 
promise with the dominant power (money) 
of this country. 

Now where is the minister or church 
which would say to the wealthy pirates of 
this nation what Jesus did to the money 
changers in the Temple? 

Now where is the minister or church 
since the time of Jesus, that has not as- 
sisted the suffering and toiling masses ^'to 
be fDeeced'^ by the iniquitous system, ivhich 
denies to manhind the fruits of his toil? 























No minister, no priest, no Church, no re- 
ligion of these modern times raises a voice 
to stay the tiger of greed. No warning fin- 
ger is raised to interrupt the capitalistic 
masters from their imposition of slavery 
upon the multitudes. Any religion, any 
minister, any church, any law maker, 
which has no interest in the social and phy- 
sical well-being of the masses betrays the 
trust assumed and is a fraud on suffering 
humanity. 



^^THE GUIDING POWER.'' 



What every man needs is a guiding 
power. A religion that will allow him to 
make a practical personal demonstration. 
A christian religion that will prove equal 
to the demands of his earthly existence. 

When you teach him the truth about him- 
self you show him that his soul is a Divine 
entity and that he can preserve or shorten 
his earthly existence according to his will. 

What did The Master Jesus ajffirm when 
he said greater works than these shall ye 
do. 







^ 



The Immanence of God 



The churcli that offers hope, health, self- 
control, and teachings that will help men 
with their physical and material ailments 
is the church that will appeal to the people. 

The present state of mankind today is 
an indictment of the ministers and their 
conventional, dogmatic views. 

The religion and church which bring out 
the full Fruition of the Perfected Spiritual 
Power of the Human soul is the church 
which can write ^^ SUCCESS'' in letters of 
Living Fire. All men would, as a neces- 
sity, give themselves up to a religion that 
was in accordance with the elements con- 
tained in The Human Soul and Physical 
Body. Mankind would then realize the 
truth of The Master's Teachings, for the 
church would become the Healer and Bless- 
er of Men. The Master taught that true 
Healing is by the Spirit, not of the spirit. 

Men could then gain the necessary light 
for Proving, Substantiating, and knowing 
the ultimate ^'Gruiding Power" (which 
would lead them to a healthy and peaceful 
life is the Soul (God) within them. 






















The wisdom of Jesus The Master taught 
that the soul is an Individual Spirit or Di- 
vine Entity, the Indestructible, Immortal 
One. In the religion of Jesus there is 
health. In Dogmatic Theology there is dis- 
ease and darkness. 

In the True Teachings of the Master 
there is Light and Hope. 

In the Legends and Myths of the church 
man only sees Darkness and eternal tor- 
ment. One is the purely ideal. The other 
Inadequate and crude. The true religion 
of the Master attract men while Dogmatic 
doctrines repel them. 







CHAPTER VI. 

MAN THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING 
GOD. 

The religion which teaches man to seek 
the Kingdom of God within himself, will 
contain the Fundamental Principle and 
Guiding Power of the teachings of Jesus 
of Nazareth. 

Teach men that they can generate within 
themselves the power to save and hasten 
the emancipation of their material bound 
soul. 

A church which does this can truly be 
called the true representative, on earth, of 
the unnamed and unconstituted church of 
the Living Christ. This church will teach 
the true Christ and Christian Spirit, and 
will become the Healer and Blesser of Man- 
kind. 

^^Claim me not, man! whosoever thou 
art or whatsoever they creed, or church, 
claim me not for thyself, and I am thine/ ^ 

119 



^ 










m 















The teachings of Jesus were never false. 
Creeds are full of errors but the Master's 
Eeligion, will be cherished in the hearts of 
those who can interpret it. For they know 
he was an exponent of a true and not a 
false religion. 

The religion of Jesus was not borrowed 
from the Babylonians, neither did it teach 
Primitive religious sacrifice. When you 
teach men to '^Know Thyself to ^^ Control 
Thyself" for the betterment of their Phy- 
sical well-being you will be enunciating a 
religion which will aways be listened to 
with the most profound respect by the 
masses, for they will realize that it is not 
farcical or inadequate nor based upon 
Moldering tradition. 

Emanating from the true teachings of 
The Master Jesus are great and enduring 
truths which are not to be cast aside or 
made light of. The wisdom of this great 
teacher uplifts those who understand it. It 
inspires mankind, helping to make life suc- 
cessful and TDeaceful ; better to-morrow than 
today. 



5 



s 



1 

X 



The Immanence of God 



121 



The Master taught that, The Kingdom 
and Providence of God are within you. 
(your soul). When man knows himself he 
will then know God. 

He will then realize how to develop the 
sentient principles of his being. 

When man does this creeds and dog- 
matic theology will appear in their true 
colors. 

We will then see that they are the out- 
come of a false religion; for true religion 
tranquilly transcends all creeds and all 
dogmas. 

He will then make allowances for those 
who propagate or follow creeds. Creeds 
and dogmatic teachings mistake darkness 
for light, or shadow for substance. 

The religion of ^^The Master" makes no 
distinction between the rich and poor, the 
high and low among the masses. He was 
broad minded enough to realize that in ev- 
ery human soul there is the essence of the 
invisible and sublimated spirit of God. 
The Alpha and Omega of being, Jesus could 
see the divine truth which shone so brill- 




















rm 






Know Thyself^' 



iantly in Ms own faithful soul, reflected in 
the souls of all men. To him all souls were 
from the One Eternal God Head, who, as 
he said, is the Father, His religion and 
teachings surrounds, those who really un- 
derstand them with health, confidence and 
soul's satisfaction. 

Dogmatic Theology, Orothodox creeds, 
and materialism surround men with the 
dread and despair of unexpected death and 
eternal torment. 

Sunday School children are taught about 
God, what he does to bad boys and girls. 
The devil is used as a means to frighten 
and terrify children into obeying the word 
of God. 

No wonder that Sunday School and relig- 
ion become a frigid subject to the young 
mind. Children are admonished not to Sin. 
Told they must live a religious life and 
are advised to practice morality and relig- 
ious ethics that are not rational for the 
grown-up members themselves. How 
much better, for the child's sake, and fu- 
ture, how much more practical, and how 



n. 



"^1 



The Immanence of God 



much more truthful and nearer to the 
child's soul (its God) it would be to teach 
it to ^' Know Itself.'' 

Teach children to believe in themselves 
(God.) Teach them ^^Self-Control." Show 
them that the power to control themselves 
and their passions lies within themselves. 

Teach children both in and out of the 
Sunday School to believe in themselves 
for right, Purity and good Moral conduct. 

Children and young boys and girls are 
told not to sin. That it is not God's will, 
that if they disobey God the Devil will 
get them and they will suffer eternal tor- 
ment and other tommy-rot. A child would 
be a fool indeed if it did not already know 
it should not commit sin. 

Grown up people know it, too, but the 
knowledge that they should not sin does not 
in one case of ten thousand prevent sin. 

Don't insult a child's intelligence by tell- 
ing it not to sin, or that it's wrong to sin, 
but teach it how to keep from committing 
sin. 

Don't ever attempt to try to get a child. 















1 


mm 


1 1 


mm 


lit 


mm 


m 


^, 


§v^ 


Ui^^^^m^^^'^^^ 


^4«y 


C: 


Uk 


124 




"Know Thyself" 






I 













or grown-up person, to stop what you call 
sin by frightening them with the wrath of 
an angry God. 

Don't be so conceited as to suppose that 
you can stop a child from giving vent to an 
angry passion, or a grown-up, unless you 
teach them ^^ Self-Control." Teach them 
the Sublime Lesson, ^^Know Thyself." 

Any person doubting that children 
should be taught to know and control them- 
selves so as to have complete mastery of 
Self, should read the following article, 
which appeared in the ' ' The Chicago Daily 
Tribune," October 7th, 1908. 

SAYS THERE'S IMMORALITY IN CHI- 
OAGO HIGH SCHOOLS. 

A. F. Sheldon Tells Business Science Club 

That Fifteen Girl Pupils Were Euined 

in One Year. 

Charges that there are cases of immoral- 
ity among students in Chicago high scools 
were made by A. F. Sheldon in a talk last 
evening at a banquet of the Chicago Busi- 



.^^ 






The Immanence of God 



125 



ness Science club at the Illinois Athletic 
club. Mr. Sheldon's subject was ^^ Business 
Building." The dinner was attended by 
nearly 200. 

'^In a certain high school in Chicago 
fifteen girls were ruined in one year/' said 
Mr. Sheldon. ^^I mean they were made 
moral wrecks. Just think of it. Girls, 16 
years old, ruined in their school days. 

' ' Things are not a whit better in the uni- 
versities. A friend of mine in Cambridge 
recently told me he has to protect his wife, 
not from criminal attacks necessarily, but 
from the rowdyism of Harvard students. 

' ' I am an Ann Arbor man and I love my 
alma mater, but I know that our schools do 
not teach the science of business and of 
self. 

^^From the grammar school to the uni- 
versity they are not putting a positive 
knowledge of self into the students' minds. 
If we are to accomplish the eradication of 
greed and graft we must strike at the pub- 
lic school system. Not only ethical science, 
hut the science of man-building must he 
taught there.' ^ 













Know Thyself^ 



Other speakers were E. D. Gibbs, presi- 
dent of the Associated Advertising Clubs 
of America; Paul P. Harris, president of 
the Rotary club, who spoke on ' ' City Build- 
ing"; and Herbert Kaufman, whose sub- 
ject was ^^Self Building." 









CHAPTER VII. 
^^ JESUS THE MASTER.'^ 

'^Verily, Verily I say unto you.'* 
Thundered the voice of the ^^ Master 
Jesus." 

The Galilean had spoken. 

The Multitude were startled. 

The Pharisees, Scribes and Rulers, and 
Chief Priests were no less concerned; in- 
deed, they were displeased when they saw 
the wonderful things that he did, and the 
children crying in the Temple, and saying 
Hosanna to the Son of David. 

^^To him that believeth, all things are 
possible/^ rang out the voice of Jesus of 
Nazareth, to be taken up and re-echoed 
throughout Jerusalem, Galilee, Judea and 
far beyond Jordan. 

To be taken up and re-echoed through- 
out all civilized Christendom to the end of 
eternity. 

127 























Even unto this day, even unto the days 
of those who will live after us, will man- 
kind marvel at these words. They are the 
truest, the most far reaching, the most im- 
pressive, the most blessed that ever has 
been uttered by human lips. 

^^Come unto me, all ye that labour and 
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.'* 

^^For I am meek and lowly in heart; and 
ye shall find rest unto your souls/' 

Again the voice had spoken saying, *^My 
yoke is easy and my burden is light" and 
when he came down from the mountain 
great multitudes followed him. 

THE LOED, THY GOD IN THE 
MIDST OF THEE IS MIGHTY. 

It was as if this great Master had said 
to his disciples, ^*Go speak my name, teach 
my works, do ye these signs, they are my 
works and your credentials as my pleni- 
potentiary; the meaning of these signs to 
reason's ear ivill be potent. 

The practical side of Jesus was shown in 
his manner of communication of the truth 



The Immanence of God 



129 



to man, as to matters of himself, unknown 
to himself. 

''THE LORD THY GOD IN THE 
MIDST OF THEE (meaning within your 
own soul) IS MIGHTY/' 

The word 'Hhee/' as used here, means 
an individual, not a multitude, as many 
suppose. The following words of Jesus 
prove this, and that their literal meaning 
is that every man's God is within his soul— 
in his midst— and mighty at that. 

''Ye are The Temple of The Living 
God;'' "God is Spirit, and they that wor- 
ship Him, in Spirit and in truth." 

"I have told you ye are God's," "The 
Kingdom of God is within you." 

"The Father is in me, I in him, and we 
in you." 

"But whosoever drinketh of the ivater 
that I shall give him shall never thirst; 
hut the water that I shall give him shall he 
in him a well of water springing up into 
everlasting life." 

What did the Master Jesus mean when 
he answered the woman of Samaria, who 














^^ 














130 



''Know Thyself 



asked him, why he being a Jew, had asked 
her for a drink, she being a woman of Sa- 
maria; for the Jews had no dealings with 
the Samarians, by telling her that if she 
had asked him for a drink, he would have 
given her living water. 

The woman said to him that he had noth- 
ing to draw the water with and, as the well 
was deep, she wondered where he would ob- 
tain the living water. Was he greater than 
Jacob, who gave them the well, and had 
himself, his children and his cattle drank 
thereof. Jesus told the woman that who- 
ever drank that water, meaning from 
Jacob's well, would thirst again, but who- 
ever would drink the water that he would 
give, would never thirst again; but that it 
would be in the one who drank it a well 
of water springing up into everlasting life. 

The Master Jesus always brought out 
his wisdom, no matter with whom he spoke, 
and he did not hesitate to tell the women 
that the true worshippers shall worship 
the Father in the spirit. 

It may as well be understood right here, 





The Immanence of God 



131 



that when Jesus said in the spirit that he 
meant in the soul, that when a thing was 
properly did it was done in the right spirit 
hence his saying, In spirit and truth. 

Jesus knew that life to the masses meant 
a continuous struggle to overcome want, 
weakness and sorrow. Again he knew that 
life without knowledge of Self (God) did 
not bring comfort, soul's satisfaction or 
health. 

Jesus knew that those who followed his 
teachings, and coidd understand their 
meayiing, would, irrespective of creed, color, 
wealth or poverty, find the living God, and 
fully understand the fundamental prin- 
ciples underlying all beliefs, creed, relig- 
ions and methods of healing and curing 
disease. 

The Cardinal Principle and chief tenet 
of his teachings was belief in yourself 
(God,) He knew that those who learned to 
know God, that is, to ^^^now Thyself,'' 
would have faith in God (thyself) and that 
by and through this faith would be able to 
intelligently control themselves, so as to be 








lyyj 




s-vs 














Know Thyself"^ 



able to become mightier than he who taketh 
a city. 

He knew that the mind, or soul of man- 
kind, when intelligently or properly con- 
trolled, could attract and draw unto itself, 
at will, infinite power, and would never 
thirst again. 

Hence, the parable at Jacob's well: 

^^But ivhosoever drinketh of the water 
that I shall give him shall never thirst; but 
the ivater that I shall give him shall be in 
him a ivell of ivater, springing up into ever- 
lasting life.'' 

The Master Jesus knew that reformat 
lion of character, the elimination of the un- 
desirable, the correction of abnormal and 
immoral tendencies, could only be obtained 
by him who controlleth himself. 

Jesus knew that mastery of self could 
only be obtained by those who learn to 
know themselves. Jesus knew that those 
who discovered God within themselves, 
* ' Seek ye the Kingdom of God within you, ' ^ 
could study and apply the laws and prin- 
ciples of the mind and soul as definitely as 




The Immanence of Gt)d 



they can tEe laws of the physical or ma- 
terial world. 

Are not those, who are the least success- 
ful, the most miserable, they which are 
destitute of self confidence and self control? 
Surely they are. And are they not like a 
wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the 
storm? 

MAN^S POWERS SHACKLED BY SUPERSTITION. 

This gifted soul well knew that those 
who learn to know God (Themselves) would 
believe in Themselves (God), would dis- 
cover, ^^The True Elixir of Life'^ and 
would then possess The Philosopher's 
Stone of Transmutation for which men 
have been seeking, for which Philosophers, 
Alchemists and Enchanters and Scientists 
have lived and died without possessing. 

More than any other soul that has ever 
lived, ^' The Master Jesus" fully appreci- 
ated the Pathos of the human soul. He 
knew that when man learned the lesson 
**Know Thyself he would discover that 
he had turned from the very darkness of 
death, to the sunshine of life. Jesus was 
the confidant of God (Life). 






















'Know Thyself' 



To him Life (God) had opened its ^'In- 
finite book of Wisdom." He knew that 
neither the enchanter 's charm nor the sorce- 
rer 's Amulet could give health or souls sa- 
tisfaction. He knew that the souls of men 
were invisible, and that the physical body is 
—but a mask. He knew that the man who 
has no knowledge of self (God) can never 
be a Master of self, or the events of life; 
that he will be the sport and prey of the 
forces and conditions surrounding him. 

Jesus knew that a soul, or mind, not 
under proper discipline runs riot, is con- 
trolled by blind passion; but that the soul 
who learns to control itself bursts into 
health and strength and success. 

There is no position or condition in life, 
where the teachings of this marvelous soul 
do not apply, and he who heeds them is sure 
of the harvest. There is no contradiction in 
the Teachings, Wisdom and Philosophy of 
this Sublime Soul, who, although he was 
cruelly murdered, has left us the richest 
legacy of all the dead. 

This rare soul understood the tragedy of 





The Immanence of God 



situation, the relation of men to the events 
of life. 

Jesus was no stranger to the passions, 
ambitions, fears, and hopes that sway the 
human soul, and knowing this He was 
genius enough to say : 

^* He who controlleth himself (His nature 
—thought) is mightier than he who taketh 
a city." In all the Philosophies of the 
world, among all the declarations in an- 
cient and modern literature, there are no 
mightier or greater words. 

It is true that at times his words con- 
tained a hidden meaning which even those 
associated with him failed to grasp; on 
the other hand he has taught us the deeper 
meaning and nature of life (God). 

The words of Jesus, his comparisons, 
and generalizations are without parallel in 
literature, his pictures of life, with its 
crimes, tragedies, and tears of love, laugh- 
ter and death are most marvellously drawn. 

What a shame that this great Philos- 
opher's teachings should be so misunder- 
stood and deformed by the Grossest and 




§^ 




g^ 











wmi 





"Know Thyself" 








g^ 





Vilest Superstition. What a pity that Suc- 
cessfully Ignorance, Superstition and 
Stupidity has so treated the teachings of 
''The Master Jesus." 

The result is what? The answer is that 

want and ignorant faith, fostered 

by superstition and dogma, are partners. 
They are consorts. For when sickness, 
disease, sorrow, disaster and despair over- 
take those who follow creeds and feed 
on religious superstition, they turn their 
attention to the other world. Upon their 
knees they are to be found seeking 
God, overcome with grief and the Mir- 
age of Misery. Overcome with the be- 
lief that He has turned a deaf ear to their 
pleadings and that their soul has been 
damned to sorrow, eternal torment and 
Hell. The truth is that they are like the 
foolish Virgins. Prosperity, wealth, leis- 
ure and health causes the modern christian 
to forget his God. But he who is in want 
believes in a creed. 

When men are prosperous and healthy 
they forget their creed and their God. 



The Immanence of God 



137 



When they are in rags, when they feel sick 
and diseased they look to Him for help. 
Pray for a blessing. 

Jesus did not teach this kind of a relig- 
ion. He was an innovator of a ^^ Living 
Truth" that teaches men to ^^Live the 
Life" daily and not wait until the horse is 
stolen and then in frenzy and nervous de- 
spair bruise their fingers in pounding a 
lock on the door. The tenets of Jesus' 
teachings do not permit man to vio- 
late the law of being. They throw the 
searchlight of ^^ Truth and Life" on the 
superstitions and beliefs of the ancient 
world. By this light the unprejudiced soul 
will be able to separate truth from error, 
fact from shadow and the teaching of 
Jesus from the beliefs and dogmas of The 
Dark Ages. 

The religion of Jesus expresses the ideal, 
the genuine philosophy and principle of 
life, and for this reason it has been a bene- 
fit to posterity. Can there be anything 
more intense than his words, ^^ YE OF LIT- 
TLE FAITH?" 

















138 



''Know TJujself' 






--V! 




The greatest compliment that has ever 
been paid to mankind is contained in these 
words, *^ Greater things then lean ye do." 
The discouraged soul who is being swept 
along by the tides and currents of adver- 
sity, and failure, does not realize the mar- 
vellous meaning of these words. 

This noblest of all souls, who bore death 
and shame on the cross, forgiving all with 
a free heart, well knew the tides and cur- 
rents of the human soul, how weak and 
uncontrolled the will is, when passion 
pleads, and how noble and grand is self- 
control. 

To him, the cardinal principle in life 
was, ^^Self-control" He knew how selfish- 
ness and desire corrupts the judgment and 
bribes the will of him who is carried away 
beyond himself by the storms which rage 
like a tempest, until they agitate the very 
depths of an ungoverned soul. 

He knew that murder is wrought by the 
frenzied whirlwinds of the mind, which 
sweeps it on to vengeance. Jesus knew that 
the stormv waters of life would receive 




^^^ 




The Immanence of God 



139 - 



many sunken wrecks, that many would be 
east helpless on the shores while the tem- 
pests of envy and ambition raged. 

How well the Master Jesus must have 
known that passion, revenge and hate are 
not easily amenable to the will, unless com- 
manded to halt by the stern voice of true 
courage. 

It was to save man from becoming a 
wave on the sea of life, driven and tossed 
by the storm of fate, ambition, and re- 
venge, that he gave the terrible warnings 
and admonitions of ^ ' Know Thyself. " ^ ' He 
who controUeth himself is mightier than 
he who taketh a city.'' 

Jesus knew that unless men learned the 
lesson of *^ self-control" they would be 
mocked by shuddering fear, and feel the 
pangs of remorse and regret; that they 
would be lashed naked to the lost ship of 
dread and fear. 

The true philosophy of Jesus robs every 
creed, superstition and dogma in the world 
of its life. It shows the poor and lowly 
that they are rich with power, which has 








m^ 

^ w ^ 




















''Know Thyself' 



been shackled by superstition, bolted up 
by creed, and barred by dogmas. 

The deeper meaning of the words and 
parables of Jesus, teaches men that their 
very soul is full beyond measure with 
power, which has been throttled by Idola- 
trous teaching. Many times has this Power 
cried out within man and begged for ut- 
terance so that it might become his Saviour 
in time of Sorrow, Disease and Despair. 

The babblings of ignorant Priests and 
the brain-sickly words of impotent minis- 
ters have caused the teachings of this 
Great Master to become meaningless and 
deadf—wra^iped in the shroud of Dogma 
and Superstition. 

Jesus taught the Law and Truth of 
* ^ Self-Control. " The churches teach a 
dogma ivhich adds a useless burden to 
man's credulity. 

His teachings are as fresh and pure as 
the dew of early day, beautiful, Sublime 
beyond comparison. They open up a new 
road for the weary soul and tired traveler 
who has hopelessly trodden the pathless 




The Immanence of God 



way, whidi leads many to the dark 
shadows of Sorrow, Crime and Suicide. 

Those who become the disciples of Su- 
perstitions teachings never see the sun- 
light of life, never know the smile of a con- 
tented existence. The darkness of doubt 
and fear overtakes them, their tears fall 
in the silent horror of it all. Their possi- 
bilities become intoxicated with the shad- 
ows of doubt and uncertainty. 

Neither do they know whether they are 
all bad, all wise, all foolish or all good. 
Good mingles with the evil and the evil 
with the good in their imagination. 

Doubt is their Pilot. Opinions of self- 
conceited Christians differ. No reproach is 
more bitter to them than credulity. Their 
self-conceit exposes them to all sorts of 
empty questions. 

They are often found in awkward em- 
barrassment in view of certain creeds, 
parts of which they cannot doubt or deny 
without suffering for it, nor believe with- 
out being laughed at. 

Both of these difficulties are found to a 





M 














^^^ 









Know Thyself '^ 



certain degree united to both Catholics and 
Protestants. 

The man who obeys the word of The Mas- 
ter Jesus and seeks ^^The Kingdom of God 
within himself" will then know himself, 
his own nature, so that he can follow out 
the Truth as his own soul (God) teaches 
it to him. He will not be shackled by Su- 
perstition or Formal statements of church 
beliefs. 

There is one thing the Christian never 
does, neither Eoman nor Protestant, that 
is, try to learn the truth of their own ac- 
cord. They accept what the church says 
as an absolute fact, forever settled, for 
they are eternally advocating its doctrines, 
by telling you that the church teaches this 
fact or it teaches this belief. 

The extent to which men and women be- 
lieve or accept church beliefs, whether 
they coincide with their moral sense or 
judgment, shows how easily the mind takes 
a suggestion, how, in a certain sense, many 
are hypnotized into believing religious 
testimony. 






The Immanence of God 



143 



Not many accept these Dogmatic Teach- 
ings because they, after intelligent consid- 
eration, believe them to be true, or that 
they are in accordance with the laws of 
the human soul, or their own common 
sense, reason or moral nature. 

Those who are not so easily influenced, 
but are still no less moral or sincere, try to 
believe many of these repugnant statements 
contained in the Scriptures, by trying to 
persuade themselves that they are plausi- 
ble, and in their soul they would really like 
to yield up their credence, but somehow 
their better judgment repudiates many 
church and religious beliefs; while the 
ministers and priests are unable to explain 
or teach the original and true teachings of 
The Master Jesus. 

No wonder the conservative, sensible in- 
dividual hesitates before he embraces 
either Roman or Protestant beliefs and 
dogmas, for he fails to see where he is go- 
ing to be benefited. No ivonder the most 
ignorant, the most superstitious are the 
most devout Protestants and Catholics. 







mm 




C^W;^) 











The creed that teaches remnants of Dark 
and by-gone Ages will attract the ignorant. 
The church which teaches a dogma will at- 
tract those who are easily influenced (con- 
verted), just as surely as the ripe cherries 
attract the birds. 

Why cannot man be trusted with his own 
salvation? Why not let the Light of Truth 
and Wisdom shine direct into his soul so 
the God within him can respond; so that 
the powers of his own soul will awaken 
within him? 

The one who has found the Truth, and 
feels and knows that he has found Eternal 
Life (God) within himself, will never let 
it get away from him any more than he can 
ever get away from it. 

Every man and woman has got to 
awaken to the fact that the '^Kingdom of 
God" is within their own being. Once they 
do this, the result will be bewildering. 
Their souls will then reflect Life (God) 
and Truth just as surely as a mirror with 
a clean surface reflects the sunlight. It 
would be just as reasonable to suppose that 




The Immanence of God 



145 



a mirror could reflect the darkness, as to 
assume a soul could reflect the light when 
it was surrounded and encumbered by su- 
perstition, quackery, darkness, dogmas, 
creed and the blind, blank faith of Dog- 
matic Theology. 

Fetter a race-horse and see if he can win. 
Shackle the feet of a swimmer and see if 
he strikes out boldly. He may be able to 
float along, but he will be badly buffeted by 
the waves when they become high, and will 
sink when they are lashed into a fury by 
the storm. Or, the shackled swimmer 
may splash the water and make a great 
stir, but his progress in the water will be 
very slow indeed. 

Now, when this shackled swimmer throws 
himself around, stirs up and splashes the 
water and makes more noise than progress, 
he is like some men who pretend to know all 
about the Living God, Heaven, Hell, Sal- 
vation, Judgments, The Divine Son, Divine 
Help, Lord, Jesus, The Virgin Mary, and 
the whole law of God. In reality the one 
makes about as much progress as the 

















other. The only difference between them 
is that the shackled swimmer pounds and 
beats the waves and the water around him, 
while the individual who shouts so loud, 
and pretends to know the ^'Law of God" 
and ^^ Divine Power," is himself pounded, 
buffeted and beaten by the waves and 
storms of life, because his soul's power 
(the God within him) is shackled by super- 
stition, bound by a creed, fettered by Chris- 
tian and Church conventionality. 

What chance has he, let me ask in all 
sincerity, to even run the race of life and 
death? What chance has he to win in the 
game of Disease and Health? What chance 
has he got to call upon, or even test the 
power of God (the possibilities of his own 
soul) to help him for the betterment of 
his physical well being, or to overcome ad- 
versity, poverty and want or disease? 

The answer to this question will never 
come out of the mouth of a minister, will 
never be given by a Priest or Father, will 
never be told by a Divine. 

No tongue can ever answer this question. 



JJ 



The Immanence of God 

Its answer will never be heard by human 
ear, never be given by human tongue. To 
know this answer your very eyes must see, 
you must observe for yourself. You can 
only realize the true answer by going where 
it can be found, by going through the hos- 
pitals. Hbw many thousands are there 
this very minute tossing on a fever ridden 
bed suffering the pangs of Disease, early 
Death, and Bodily Decay? 

Can you realize, my man or woman, any 
of the agony suffered by these souls as 
they are unceremoniously laid on a truck 
and wheeled away to the operating room, 
where the surgeon waits with knife and 
probe, until the inhaler is applied and an 
anaesthetic given to produce anaesthesia 
(deaden the sensibilities of the already 
diseased and suffering body). 

If the patient, (alread}^ weakened by dis- 
ease) absorbs a fatal dose, and does not 
survive the effects of the poison, the in- 
haling mask is removed. 

The dead wagon, with its muffled wheels, 
conveys the diseased, mutilated and life- 














less body to those who are near and dear. 
Silently they receive their dead. They are 
too stricken, their grief too intense for loud 
lamentations. 

Inwardly they protest, wonder why God 
has, without warning, taken away the one 
who was all the world to them. The under- 
taker straightens out the limbs drawn up 
in the last struggle of death's agony, 
smooths out the tangled hair, which has be- 
come matted and damp by constant tossing 
upon a pillow heated beyond endurance by 
fever. 

The doleful, regular tolling of the Ca- 
thedral bells reaches the ears of those 
mourning over their dead, with impressing 
sadness, or the ominous rumbling clang 
of the rustic church bell falls with a start- 
ling sharpness on the town's ears, drown- 
ing the cries and lamentations of those 
who are taking a last farewell look at the 
once happy face of the loved one, now 
drawn and pallid in death. 

The man of God in his black frock or 
robe says a few stereotyped words to the 






The Immanence of God 



effect that it was God's will, God sent 
death, God did it all. God's will be done. 

What a libel on -^^The Kingdom of God 
within you. ' ' What a mockery, what a fit- 
ting end, what a consistent scene for the 
last drama of a Christian life. 

But Oh! the pity of it all. What a vio- 
lation of the Law of The Human Soul 
(God). 

The obituary notice over the list of the 
recent dead, contains the name of the de- 
ceased. Thus ends an endless scene. 

Who will be the next to be called by an 
^^All Wise," ^^All Merciful God" to en- 
dure the grief and agony of premature 
death? For while the bells are tolling, the 
surgeon is busy. The dead wagon hurries 
back. The bed in the ward at the hospital, 
from whence the white capped and gowned 
nurse had lifted the one that was never 
brought back to her, has been hurriedly 
changed, and another suffering body de- 
posited thereon. 

This time it is a woman ; for more women 
than men by far are tucked under the 





S??§ 










^ 














sheets of the hospital beds to wait for the 
doctor's further examination. Mostly al- 
ways it is the sad, frightened and terrified 
face of a woman still yonng in life, that is 
covered in the operating room by the in- 
haling mask. More times than not, it is 
the nervous fingers of man's helpmate 
that cling frantically, desperately to the 
wheeled chair or truck, as it is quickly 
guided from the ward to the operating 
room. 

Surely there is some mistake. God, who 
is claimed to be all merciful, all wise, never 
intended all this. What pitiful grief, these 
poor mortals suffer, what agony. Isn't it 
possible that man, in his hurry to interpret 
the word of God, has blundered? Isn't it 
possible that somewhere, someway, man 
has been told of a way to stop, or at least 
check all this? Isn't it possible that the 
advance of disease is due to man's ignor- 
ance of himself? IsnH it possible that 
^^The Master Jesus'^ meant to tell men of 
a way ivhen he said ^^Know Thyself/' 
''Control Thyself?'' 



I! 




The Immanence of God 



The amount of operations performed on 
the women of this country today, is shock- 
ing. It is appalling to contemplate the ad- 
vance of disease in the face of all our so- 
called science and Materia-Medica. Men 
talk learnedly about ^'abnormal condi- 
tions," ^^the Pathology of disease,'' ^^Bac- 
teriology, " '' infection, ' ' ' 'anaesthetics, ' ' 
surgery and all such things. 

But it should be remembered that, while 
all this is being done and all is very well 
in its way, and the physicians, surgeons and 
scientists are attempting to alleviate hu- 
man suffering, helping the sick when they 
can pay well for it, curing disease on a 
fee basis, selling their services to the high- 
est bidder, the same as a drover sells his 
cattle out at the stock yards, the vital ques- 
tion is, Hoiv can ive prevent or ivard off 
disease? How can mankind become im- 
mune to disease? 
























Know Thyself^' 



POVERTY STALKS IN ITS FULL 
NAKEDNESS AND HORROR. 

By what means, by what way, by what 
art, can we live healthy, live longer, keep 
the physical body free from disease, so 
that a larger percentage of the human race 
will die a natural death? 

Of course, there are many who will 
quickly say that this is impossible. Still, 
be careful. Are you absolutely sure? Re- 
member the words, ^'To him that believeth, 
all things are possible/' Of course the 
physician has no knowledge of this kind, 
for many of them have no better health 
than some of their patients. Both the min- 
isters and the priests are no better off in 
this respect, than the ordinary individual. 
So here we have a case of ' ' The blind lead- 
ing the blind." 

The full answer to the question, what 
chance has man bound down by supersti- 
tion, creed, and ignorance of himself, to 
utilize, even test, or call upon the power of 
God (the power within himself) to over- 
come adversity, poverty and want. No 



The Immanence of God 



153 



tongue can ever fully answer this ques- 
tion in full justice to the conditions of pov- 
erty and want. 

Go see for yourself. Go among the poor 
where poverty stalks in its full nakedness 
and horror. The conditions are so deplor- 
able, that to attempt to describe or picture 
them would be impossible. 

Disease and death are harbingers of pov- 
erty and want, the forerunners of adver- 
sity. The bread-winner of the home be- 
comes sick. Things may be prosperous, 
but when sickness comes to the father, mo- 
ther, wife, sister or brother who is keeping 
things going, then their salary stops, but 
the bills keep on piling up. Doctor bills 
must be paid. Hospital bills must be settled, 
rent paid, shoes and clothing paid for, 
medicine bought. Many times the services 
of a high priced specialist must be had, 
and his fee amounts to more than the poor, 
stricken bread-winner can earn in months. 

If death comes (and God claims his own) 
the undertaker's bill, and the cost of a 
small lot in the cemetery, ushers in poverty 
with all its hardships and privations. 



wjq 




fr-'-N'— -V 



II i JJ 



ffTT 



o 















Know Thyself'' 



Diminution of disease, poverty and pre- 
mature death, can never be obtained, only 
by teaching men the true meaning of the 
words of the Xazarene, ''Ye are the Tem- 
ple of the living God." ''The Lord thy 
God in the midst of thee is mighty. ' ' These 
surely are wholesome, sane and sound 
teachings. They are bound to make an im- 
pression on the minds of men, for there is 
no question of their universal adaptability. 

There is no question of doubt regarding 
the universal availability of the power of 
the living God within the Temple (Man). 
That it may be of use, or efficacious for all 
the wants of mankind, there can be no de- 
nial. Of course, the egotist will doubt this, 
but these self-important individuals can 
never offer a substitute more adequate for 
the wants of mankind than the original 
teachings of "The Master Jesus. '^ 

THE EMOLUMENTS LARGE. 

Neither the physicians nor ministers know 
as much about the human soul as any in- 
telligent man should know. Preachers and 





The Immanence of God 



doctors may denounce the principles enun- 
ciated here. The theme of this work may 
arouse them, for their emolument from 
misinformed humanity, is great. How- 
ever, none need have any fear of the 
preacher or priest with a silver tongue and 
a bold, hypnotic personality gainsaying 
them, for their sense of justice has become 
dulled by preaching Dogmatic Theology. 
None need fear that any physician, engaged 
in the healing art, and possessed with the 
prejudices of his profession, will ever tell 
you of a better therapeutic than the force 
(Grod) within you. For the highest medi- 
cal skill is insig-nificant and inadequate 
when compared to the power (God with-in 
man) that ^'The Master Jesus" used to 
cure those who came before Him. Yes, the 
writer knows many call these Biblical Mir- 
acles, ^^ Miracles of God," very likely. 

Well, you never need be afraid of any 
medical man or minister performing a mir- 
acle then, for they never will, However, 
these same kinds of miracles are being per- 
formed today, by the ''Power of Belief/' 
in the Kingdom of God ivithin men. 





















Know Thyself 



^Verily, Verily, I say unto you, he that 
believeth on me, the works that I do; shall 
he do; also, and greater works than these 
shall he do/^ 

Men and women, through their reconcil- 
iation, unity and return to self (God) will 
obtain the power which '^The Master 
Jesus" promised his followers. 

How many preachers, priests and would- 
be savers of men have this power or can 
tell you how to obtain it? None, for their 
knowledge of Self (God) is as farcical and 
inadequate as the religion they preach. 

Nobody is in a better position to know 
the absolute truth of this statement than 
the writer himself, as he speaks from per- 
sonal knowledge, and can, if necessary, fur- 
nish evidence that many ministers and phy- 
sicians have come to him for advice on 
matters of broken health, and to have cer- 
tain parables explained so they would un- 
derstand them. 

Would it surprise you to know that the 
writer, during his many years of public 
life in Chicago and New York, has had, as 






The Immanence of God 



students, a large number of ministers and 
priests, who applied as regular students 
to be taught what they preferred to call 
** Personal Magnetism," or Psychology, so 
they could influence and control the mem- 
bers of their church? 

Were they surprised at what was told 
them? Yes, they really were. The instruc- 
tion the minister and priest received was a 
revelation. It startled them like a bolt of 
lightning from a clear sky. The truth of 
The Master's words flashed before them 
like Mother's warning comes to the boy 
who has left home. 

If ever, in their whole earthly existence 
and haphazard study and understanding 
of the bible, they were brought face to 
face with the literal meaning and marvel- 
ous value of the words of ^^TJie Master/' 
^^He that controlleth himself, is mightier 
than he who taketh a citi//' it was when 
they were plainly told that they would nev- 
er be able to influence anybody, that they 
would never be able to control the members 
of their churchy or anyone else until they 







UJ 



^ 





s^ 








r¥ 





''Know Thyself' 



first learned how to control themselves. 
How ignorant. How little they knew about 
the words of '^The Master" and that the 
greatest asset a minister or priest can have 
is ^^Self Control." 

Yes they desire to control the members 
of their flock and many of them have paid 
big fees to those who claimed they could 
give them some mysterious power so they 
could exert it over the members of their 
church. 

To the one, who had made any study of 
the words of ^^The Master," it would never 
seem otherwise. If you desire to influence 
another, or control another so as to direct 
them properly, you must certainly control 
yourself. If you desire to control yourself, 
you must know yourself. It would be just 
as foolish for you to claim to be able to 
write another's name when you are too il- 
literate to write your own. 

It is one of the sad, sad mistakes that the 
individual, who knows nothing about him- 
self (God) makes when he assumes he will 
ever be able to impress those around him, 



:0 
-VI 



The Immanence of God 



159 



K' 



ti 



to influence anyone or exert the least con- 
trol over others until he first learns to con- 
trol himself. 

Those who are desirous of authenticating 
or confirming these statements may act on 
the sign given here and note that any per- 
son who has no ^^Self-Control," no '^In- 
ward Confidence, '^ no ^^ Belief'^ in them- 
selves, have absolutely no influence or con- 
trol over those around them. The reason is 
obvious. The ^^ Master Jesus" said, ^^To 
him that believeth all things are possible," 
and this is true. But to those who have no 
*^Self-Control," and are unable to bring 
themselves to the ^^ Belief " and full realiza- 
tion that they can do a thing, nothing but 
failure will come. ^^Yeof Little Faith. ' ' 

If the minister ever learns this much of 
the teachings of Jesus he can have some 
hope of learning more. 

^^ Self -Control" and ^^ Faith," not in an 
imaginary priest or minister manufactured 
God, but yourself (God) is an invaluable 
asset. He who controlleth himself is well 
off indeed, but he who has no control or 




















''Know Thyself' 

*^ Faith'' in himself knows not himself, 
and the sooner he learns the lesson ^^Know 
Thyself the better and wiser will he 
become. 

Does this not verify and prove what has 
been said a few pages back in this book, 
that, the extent to which men and women 
believe or accept church beliefs, whether 
they coincide with their moral sense or 
judgment, shows how easily the mind takes 
a suggestion, how, in a certain sense, many 
are hypnotized into believing religious tes- 
timony. 

Now, in the light of the above and what 
has been said, isn't it true that— Not many 
accept Dogmatic Teachings because they, 
after intelligent consideration, believe 
them to be true, or that they are in accord- 
ance with the laws of the human soul, or 
their own common sense, reason or moral 
nature. It certainly does. 

The ministers with the strongest person- 
ality, the greatest hypnotic power, are al- 
ways found in the largest and richest 
churches. And you may be sure that it 



The Immanence of God 



161 



takes a preacher or priest with a strong 
personality to convince the people, or to 
even get them to take kindly to Supersti- 
tion, Idolatry and Dogmatic Theology. 

That the writer is in a position to know 
what he is talking about is not a matter of 
speculation. Years of experience and daily 
contact with ministers, priests, the sick and 
. ri unfortunate are a good teacher. 
i| If the ministers and priests are able to 

make any distinctive contribution to the 
physical well-being of men and women, why 
is it that they are not claiming a larger 
share of public respect and attention? 

If they have any one main contributing 
factor that will bring soul's satisfaction 
and help to those who are having a hap- 
hazard existence and struggle, it would cer- 
tainly have become known, for all are anx- 
iously seeking an opportunity to share ; and 
many would have appropriated knowledge 
that would raise them up. 

^* Jesus The Master'^ taught Religious 
Therapeutics. Teachings which bring res- 
toration of health and offers help and hope. 























Know Thyself' 



and shows mankind that life is something 
else than a long weary stretch of days, 
months and years, filled with disease, suf- 
fering, sorrow and adversity, will certainly 
contribute a factor to man's welfare. 

Teachings which will benefit all men and 
all women, with their divers beliefs, tem- 
peraments and conditions, imparting 
knowledge that appeals to the struggling 
masses, is bound to obtain its share of pub- 
lic attention all over the civilized world. 

Teachings which are valuable when given 
with no demand or desire for financial re- 
numeration, will not appeal in vain. Teach- 
ings which show and prove that a large 
percentage of the efforts of the churches 
and physicians to help the masses are futile 
and inadequate, will become very impor- 
tant indeed. 

Teachings which throw the search light 
on creeds, dogmas and gentlemenly graft, 
will not need to offer *' special induce- 
ments*' to obtain a hearing. Teachings 
which will shatter the religious idols of the 
very pious and drive out superstition, will 
be accepted by the intelligent. 



The Immanence of God 



163 



Teachings which will not permit physical 
ailments and nervous diseases to predomi- 
nate will be looked upon as a step in the 
right direction. 

Teachings not encumbered with super- 
stition, mystery and quackery are teach- 
ings that will convert and convince. Doc- 
tors, Philosophers and Ministers may come 
and go, but what the people of today want, 
is sane, wholesome and sound teachings 
that will bring Health, Happiness and 
Prosperity ; something that will make them 
feel decidedly better mentally and phy- 
sically, something that will restore what 
they have lost by being lead by the blind. 

Toiling and struggling humanity, of to- 
day, have grown tired of Dogmas, Theol- 
ogy, Philosophy, Theory, Psychology, Mys- 
tery, Superstition and Hobbies. What they 
demand is the Truth. All these things have 
been held out to the masses as the means of 
their salvation. To what extent they really 
have benefited men and women can be 
found by looking everywhere. The eye 
moistens with the tear of pity when it sees 





^^-n^vrrj 





mm 










the pain and poverty, the disease, the crime, 
the misery, the sorrow and the cruelties 
suffered by the human race of today, as it 
slowly travels the thorny paths of earthly 
existence. Yes, the people as a whole have 
become tired of all this. It is to them a 
monumental mockery. They are tired of 
emulating creeds, curealls, mysticism and 
superstition. 

They are weary of it all. Their lagging 
interest and weariness are best described 
by the words of the immortal William 
Shakespeare : 

** Tedious as a twice-told tale 
Vexing the ears of a drowsy man.'^ 





*^ Duller than a great thaw. 
Dry as the remainder biscuit 



after 



a 



voyage, 



99 





Where will men and women turn to re- 
ceive the true teachings? Where can they 
go without becoming contaminated with 
Superstition, Theosophy and Philosophic 



n 



I 




ynfr- 




1 



1 



11 



TKe Immanence of God 



165 



Movements, Ignorant Charlatans, Meta- 
physicians, Mental Healers, Theology, 
Faith Curers, Christian Scientists, Absent 
Treatments, Mystic Adepts, Philosophers, 
Quackery, Osteopathy? Where can they 
escape the prayers of the saintly, the chant 
of the divers religions, the graft of those 
who claim to be able to invoke Mystic Pow- 
ers, Magic Rites, Voodoos, Witch Doctors 
and Savage Incantations ? 

How bewildering it all becomes, what a 
labyrinth of idle superstition, what an op- 
portunity for wild speculation and useless 
investment in methods that promise so 
much and prove chimerical. What an en- 
tangled maze of insoluable complications. 
What a multitude of dissimilar methods 
and therapeutics. 

At which shrine shall the weary pilgrim 
kneel? 

No wonder bewildered and suffering hu- 
manity has lost the lineal key. No wonder 
men who are subject to an exacting and 
immutable law, have wandered from the 
Pathway of Truth into a maze of unfore- 
seen conditions. 
























Know Thyself 



No wonder the **Word^^ of **The Mas- 
ter'^ has been ^4ost" to the Fraternity of 
souls. No wonder his original teachings 
have become distorted and '^in-operative/* 
Speculation rules the day. Science, so- 
called, has a full and mighty sway. 

Will it remain for future ages to dis- 
cover ''The Master's'* "Word/* which has 
indeed been "lost/* or shall men awaken 
from the lethargy of speculation, quackery 
and Religious Dogma, and again restore to 
bewildered humanity the "Lost Word'* of 
"The Master Jesus," the original "Word*' 
of "Truth and Instruction?" 

When the "lost word" and original in- 
struction, is restored to men and women 
and they conform to the immutable pre- 
cepts and mandates of "The Master 
Jesus" they will then be duly and truly 
prepared, worthy and well qualified, to 
work out their own salvation, as "The 
Master Jesus" intended they should. 

When men and women have driven out 
superstition, which is coeval in age with 
the world, they will be able to understand 





The Immanence of God 



and decipher what has been to them the in- 
comprehensible Book of God (Self). They 
will then become a better and wiser peo- 
ple. They will then see for themselves how 
the original teachings of ^^The Master 
Jesus," have been, by ignorance, stultilo- 
quence, and successful stupidity, distorted 
and misstated by those who have substi- 
tuted the spurious doctrines of Dogmatic 
Theology, Paganism and Catholicism. 









r^M 

















CHAPTER Vin. 
THE ORIGINAL TEACHINGS. 

The original teachings of '^The Master" 
taught moderation in all things. To him the 
minds of men should be well organized, 
fully controlled, and enjoy perpetual har- 
mony with all mankind. 

He knew that lack of self-control meant 
a weak link in the chain of man's earthly 
affairs. He knew that those who were ul- 
tra-conservative and self-controlled, would 
make good to a signal degree, would have 
in their possession the keystone to the 
arch of health and souPs satisfaction. 

Time has proven that unless man learns 
to control himself he ivill always remain 
an individual of mediocre ability, never fill' 
ing an important position— deadicood. 

The original teachings and admonitions 
of this Sublime Soul omitted nothing, that 
ages of experience has proven, or conven- 

168 



The Immanence of God 



169 



tion taught. They are not encumbered with 
any church frills or religious furbelows. 

The Master and his disciples aroused the 
multitudes. When the personnel of this 
brotherhood was announced, in any given 
locality, it created a veritable sensation, as 
the unerring instinct of men knew that the 
teachings and instructions of The Master 
and his disciples were original and true, 
and not hair-brained theories or half backed 
religious ideas. 

The Scribes, Pharisees, Eulers and Chief 
Priests, were sure they were not, and that 
the extent to which they were being ac- 
cepted would quickly regulate them to ob- 
scurity or bring them to the very brink of 
destruction, because universal ignorance of 
the real God (Self) was essential to their 
existence, so they deliberately planned and 
executed the murder of the only man in all 
the world who has ever taught the truth. 





1. 




^ 


0^ v# ^i5 


UliJ 






i 


170 ''Know Thyself" \ 


y^ 


> 
























SELF-CONTROL - MASTERY OP 
SELF. 

Lack of self-control brings sorrow, weak- 
ness, disease and disappointment. Self- 
controlled men and women, in reality, are 
the artisans of their own physical well- 
being, just the same as they who have no 
self-control are the original instigators and 
cause of their aflSictions and moral suffer- 
ing. 

That the lack of self-control brings moral 
and worldly suffering cannot be denied, and 
to excuse one^s self of the responsibility 
and blame it on God or the Devil is a con- 
solation to some people. 

Nevertheless, it is wounded pride, dis- 
appointments of an exaggerated ambition 
and the anxieties of avarice, jealousy, envy 
and hate, all of which are due to a lack of 
self-control, which constitutes the torments 
of the soul. 

Happy and well off indeed is the man 
or woman who can so control themselves 
that they know not the pain caused by the 
gnawing worms of envy, jealousy and hate. 



1 




The Immanence of God 



171 



He or she who is the slave of an uncon- 
trolled soul or mind knows not the satisfac- 
tion or joy of a calm or reposed self. 

For when they fail to control themselves, 
the passions rule. It is then that the object 
of their longings, their hatreds and their 
anger stand out like so many phantoms, al- 
ways pursuing them without respite, even 
in their sleep. 

The envious and jealous are always in a 
fever. Their uncontrolled passions creates 
for them the most terrible tortures, and life 
really, figuratively speaking, becomes a 
hell. 

Think of those who have committed mur- 
der while they were jealous or angry. This 
would never have happened to a self -con- 
trolled man or woman. 

The minister and priest prays to God to 
save the soul of a murderer after the deed 
is done. Had they known their business 
they would have seen that the soul was 
taught to know itself, and to so ^^ control 
itself'^ that the deed never would have been 
committed. They would have tUen saved 
the life of the victom as well. 





u NO 




















''Know Thyself' 



Many of the colloquial expressions of to- 
day present vivid pictures of the undesir- 
able effects of people not controlling their 
passions. 

People say such and such a person is 
** devoured by jealousy," ^^ Puffed up with 
pride, '^ *^ Dying with envy," ^^ Turned 
green with envy," pictures that are only 
too true to their originals. 

UNCONTROLLED PASSIONS. 

In many cases these evil ^^uncontrolled 
passions" have no determinate object. 
Those who have least control of themselves 
and are miserable slaves to an ungoverned 
will, are those who are known as being 
** naturally jealous," of everyone who rises, 
of everything that oversteps the common 
line, even when their own personal interest 
is in no way concerned, and simply be- 
cause they were not able to command a 
similar success. 

Every manifestation of superiority or 
sign of success on the part of others is re- 
garded by them as an offense to themselves, 



The Immanence of God 



173 



and serves to fan their uncontrolled pas- 
sions into a flame of hatred and jealousy. 
The envy and jealousy of mediocrity would, 
if it could, bring others down to its own 
level. 

Much of the sorrow and unhappiness of 
men and women is the result of undue im- 
portance they attach to the success of oth- 
ers ; disappointed ambition, vanity ,and cu- 
pidity, make up no small part of their 
troubles. 

If people would only seek the God within 
themselves, directing their thoughts to- 
ward those infinite powers within the Tem- 
ple, they would be rewarded beyond meas- 
ure, and the vicissitudes of human exist- 
ence would seem to them as petty and 
puerile as the broken toy over the loss of 
which the child weeps so bitterly. 

He who seeks his happiness and souPs 
satisfaction outside The Temple is as bad 
off as he who seeks happiness only in the 
satisfaction of pride and of gross material 
appetites. Both will be grievously disap- 
pointed and unhappy for they cannot sat- 
isfy them. 















^^c 




174 



'Know Thyself' 






He who seeks ^^The Kingdom of God'' 
within the Temple (himself) and asks for 
no snperjBuities will be contented and 
happy under circumstances that would be 
deemed calamities to those who look for 
God and Heaven through the tears of con- 
trition and penitence. 

The man and woman and child who know 
themselves, controls themselves, and has 
found God within themselves has not the 
same incitements to envy and false pride 
and anxiety as those who know not God 
(themselves). 

The former knows that consolation and 
means to control and help himself lies with- 
in himself. 

The latter reasons upon and analyzes his 
failures, mistakes and unhappiness, divid- 
ing the blame for them between God and 
the Devil, and as neither one are responsi- 
l^;^^ ble, only in his imagination, he therefore is 
all the more painfully affected by them. 

The consolation given the one who knows 
that the real power to help himself lies 
within himself, and can be developed by 







> 



The Immanence of God 



175 



*^ Faith in Himself" gives him hope of a 
better future, while ** Faith in Himself'^ 
(God) gives him the certainty of that fu- 
ture. 

HEAVEN AND HELL. 

Heaven and Hell, as many have imag- 
ined them, have no existence, they are only 
symbols of the dark ages. 

The localization of Heavenly rewards 
and eternal punishment, in fixed places,ex- 
ists only in preachers^ and man's imagina- 
tion; this proceeds from man's tendency to 
materialize and to circumscribe the things 
of which he cannot comprehend the essen- 
tial infinitude. 

The words ^^HelP' and ^^ Purgatory" in 
their true meaning refers to the physical 
and moral suffering of men and women 
during their earthly existence, and is the 
period of earthly expiation, for it is a rule 
of the immutable law, to which man is sub- 
ject, that he is forced to undergo the tor- 
ments of Hell and Purgatory to expiate his 
wrongdoings against God (himself) while 
in the physical body. 






















''Know Thyself' 

What people flippantly call ^*Hell,'' is 
only a figure of speech, and should be un- 
derstood as signifying not any determinate 
place, but the state of a painfully affected 
soul and a badly diseased body. 

It is plain to be seen that Purgatory and 
Hell consists of the trials and sorrows of 
an uncontrolled and misguided soul during 
its corporeal life. Some will ask why min- 
isters and priests, who seem to be an au- 
thority, reply according to the commonly 
received ideas of those who question them, 
in the most serious spirit concerning Hell 
and Purgatory. 

The reason of this is that when the mem- 
bers of a church are so imbued with pre- 
conceived ideas, neither the minister nor 
the priest care to interrupt their convic- 
tions, for if a minister or priest should tell 
a member of his church, without proper 
precaution, that there was not such an in- 
dividual as Satan, or no such a place as 
Heaven or Hell, and that all statements to 
this effect were chimerical, he would not be 
listened to with much cordiality. 



i: 






Jl 



The Immanence of God 



177 



Hell may be understood as meaning a 
life of extremely painful trial, with uncer- 
tainty as to the future attainment of any 
better state. Do you not often hear people 
say, when undergoing any intense physical 
or mental distress, that they are suffering 
^ ^ the tortures of the damned V^ Of course, 
such an expression is only a figure of 
speech, and is always employed as such. 
Neither is there such a place as Heaven, as 
the term is used in the promulgation of 
Creeds and Dogmatic Theology. Without 
question the credulous suppose it to be a 
place like the Elysian Fields of the 
ancients, where all extra good and pious 
souls were crowded together pell-mell, with 
no other care or responsibility than that of 
listening to the angels play on golden harps 
and enjoying themselves throughout eter- 
nity, a passive felicity, an existence desti- 
tute of the sufferings and trials inherent in 
the state of inferiority. 

Hell is synonymous with earthly suffer- 
ing. However, should you have asked a 
Pagan where a bad man went after he was 














'Knoiv Thyself'' 













dead he would tell you that he was in Tar- 
tarus. The same may be said of other ex- 
pressions of a similar character, such as 
^^That beautiful shore'' ^^That happy 
land," etc. which are only allegorical, and 
employed by some figuratively, by others 
from ignorance of the reality of themselves 
(God), or even of the most elementary 
principles of Natural Science. 

According to the restricted idea enter- 
tained by some, in regard to the locaities 
of future rewards and punishments, and to 
the common belief of the credulous that 
the earth is the center of the universe, that 
the sky forms a vault overhead, and that 
there was a specific region of stars, men 
placed Heaven up above, and Hell down be- 
low; hence the expressions to, ^^ ascend into 
Heaven,'' to be ^^cast down into Hell," etc. 

Now that astronomy, having traced up 
the earth's history and described its con- 
stitution, has shown us that it is one of the 
smallest worlds that circulate in space, and 
devoid of angr special importance, that 
space is infinite, and that there is neither 
*'up" nor ^^down" in the universe. 



■'K. 



The Immanence of God 



179 



Jl 



Intelligent and scientific men have long 
ago ceased placing ^^ Heaven^ ^ above the 
clouds, and ^^HelP' in the ^^ lower parts of 
the earth." As for poor Purgatory, no 
fixed place was ever assigned to it. 

Every man and every woman have, fig- 
uratively speaking, their own little indi- 
vidual *^HelP' and their ^^ Heaven" within 
themselves during their corporeal or physi- 
cal lives, that is to say, their unhappiness 
or souPs satisfaction depends upon them- 
selves and that the means of salvation lies 
within the depths of their own soul. 

It is through self-control that men and 
women can make moral progress. It is 
through self-control and practical con- 
formity to the laws of God (self) that they 
will become completely purified from pride, 
selfishness, envy, hate, disease and jeal- 
ousy. 

Teachings of this kind are what *^The 
Master Jesus" taught, they are in the high- 
est degree rational, sublime, hopeful and 
consoling. When the original teachings of 
**The Master" are understood universally 



^^— , 



180 



"Know Thyself 



ff 













by the masses, goodness will reign on earth 
among men and women. 

The transformation of the human race 
has been predicted from the most ancient 
times, and we are now approaching the 
period when it is destined to take place. 

The writer, in putting out this work, is 
not attempting to attract public attention 
or contribute anything that will produce 
any sensation such as the short-lived but re- 
markable growth of the Dowie Movement 
in Chicago and Zion City. 

Anyone who would be guilty of this 
would lower the dignity of the Master's 
teachings. 

Those who are sincerely laboring to ad- 
vance the progress and physical well-being 
of mankind would do well to refer to the 
original teachings of Jesus, for this trans- 
formation will never be affected without 
mankind finding the ^^losf word. 

THAT SUBLIME OKIENTAL MYTH. 
Moral advancement of the human race 
will never be obtained by preaching about 





The Immanence of God 



I 



that sublime Oriental Myth, of the driving 
out of the first pair from the Garden of 
Eden. 

Neither will men or women ever learn the 
lesson ^^Know Thyself by preaching 
about that other ^^Myth/^ no less sublime, 
of the fall of those first, imaginary parents, 
entailing the sinfulness of their descend- 
ants, *^ Original Sin.'' 

Teach men and women to devote them- 
selves with zeal and courage to the great 
work of **Self Regeneration.'' Teach 
them to have ^^ Faith" in themselves (God) 
and they will reap a hundred fold from 
every seed of ^^Self-Control" they sow. 

Woe to those who close their eyes and 
ears to the lesson of ^^ Self -Control/^ Woe 
unto him who hath no control over Himself 
or has no Faith in Mmself (God) to over- 
come the adversities of life, for he will he 
indeed weak to hear the hurden of his fu- 
ture misery. 

Such a one will be easily disheartened in 
his struggle against adversity and the 
storms of life, and will give up in despair, 



'^C:: 















Know Thyself^' 



die of a broken heart, as he should, for 
none will be more guilty than he. 

SELF-ABANDONMENT. 

There is no greater sin or curse than 
doubt of Self (God). Beware of the pitfall 
or the ^^Hell of Self-Abandonment.'^ No 
person will be absolved if they are wanting 
in *^ Faith'' in self (God), and he who over- 
comes disease must not be found wanting 
in firmness and preseverance. 

Bad off, indeed, are those who have no 
control over their feelings and are what is 
known as ^* extremely sensitive" people. 

It certainly goes very hard with those 
whose intelligence is paralyzed by false 
pride, who would blush to earn their living 
by manual labor, and would rather lead a 
life of dishonor, commit suicide or die of 
starvation than derogate from what they 
call their ^^ social position.'* Is there not 
a hundred fold more nobleness and true 
dignity in having control over your feel- 
ings (Pride) and being able to bear up 
against adversity, in braving the ill na- 




The Immanence of God 



183 



tured remarks and scorn of the futile and 
selfish, whose smile and good will is only 
for those who are well off and want for 
nothing, and who turn a cold shoulder to 
all who are in need of help and advice. To 
be so weak, and wanting in Perseverance 
as to throw one's possibiities and life away, 
or to become discouraged on acount of such 
people is doubly absurd, and a true indi- 
cation that there is no inward confidence 
or firmness, and you may be sure those 
around you will be very indifferent to your 
sacrifice. 

Suicide is self-abandonment, and a cow- 
ardly act, which should not be condoned 
or excused. When men and women get 
rid of social prejudices and false pride 
there will be fewer suicides. 

To sacrifice one's life to escape the tor- 
ments of pride and adversities is disgrace- 
ful. The sanctuary of one 's inward powers 
is never opened by self-imposed expiation 
or suicide. 

The sacrifice of one's life is meritorious 
when it is made in order to save the lives 










s??g 





184 



'Know Thyself' 













of others, or to be useful to them, and when 
incurred for such an end it is sublime ; but 
such a voluntary sacrifice is not suicide. It 
is the useless sacrifice of one's life that is 
revolting and tarnished with disgrace. 

A sacrifice is only meritorious when dis- 
interested; if accomplished in view of a 
selfish end, such as saving one's self from 
adversity and disgrace, its value is lost. 

Every sacrifice of our own interest or en- 
joyment made for the sake of the sick or 
needy is supremely meritorious, for it is 
the fulfilling of the law of charity. So 
taught *^The Master Jesus.'' 

Suicide is contrary to the law of being, 
and no person has any right to voluntarily 
shorten their earthly existence, and it is 
everyone's plain duty to prolong their life 
by cultivating a spirit of courageous en- 
durance. 

To succumb to the temptation of suicide 
is not only an infraction of a moral law ,but 
is a violation of the law of Self (God), a 
piece of stupidity . 

Those who commit suicide because of the 













The Immanence o^ God 185 



death of a loved one, in the hope of rejoin- 
ing them in the spirit life, commit an act 
that is strictly opposite of that which is 
hoped for, and instead of being reunited to 
the object of their uncontrolled affection, 
those who have made this sad mistake find 
themselves separated, and for a very long 
time, from the one they hoped to rejoin. 

The immutable law of Self (God) can- 
not recompense by the granting of a favor 
an act which is at once a proof of moral 
cowardice, and an insult offered to the Law 
of Self, in distrusting one's own powers to 
overcome sorrow and disappointment. 

They will pay for their folly and coward- 
ly deed with sorrows still greater than 
those they, in their ignorance and stupid- 
ity, fancied they were about to shorten or 
end, and for which they will not be compen- 
sated by the satisfaction they hoped to re- 
gain. 

The individual who becomes a victim to 
the excessive indulgence of his passion, 
which he knows is a physical necessity, 
which he should be able to control, and 









^W^S^^SS'V^ 


u;3 


Ul^ 


RRi 


\ 
r 

c 

C 


, , , 386 


"Know Thyself" 







fHrn 




n 






which he could control if he knew Self, 

commits moral suicide ; for do you not see 
that such a man or woman is trebly guilty! 

For they are guilty of a want of firraness, 
(self-control) of a sin of bestiality and of 
forgetfulness of purity of mind, and such 
a man or woman is more guilty, if such a 
thing is possible, than the one who commits 
suicide or takes his life outright, for they 
have time to reflect on the suicidal nature 
of the action they are pursuing. 

Many think that those who commit sui- 
cide while mentally deranged should not be 
censured, and that this in itself should con- 
done or excuse them. This, however, does 
not diminish the blame. Some who take 
their life, are in a degree of bewilderment 
unallied to madness and some are partially 
insane; but if they had ever learned the 
severe lesson of ^^Self-Control," and had 
developed and strengthened their Primary 
Will to the point of courageous endurance, 
they would have been saved the intense 
agony and horror of oncoming insanity and 
consequent suicide. 




n 




The Immanence of God 



The first sign of insanity is mental con- 
fusion. What causes mental confusion? 
Lack of self-control, of course. Whether 
suicide is committed with a full conscious- 
ness of wrong doing or not, the result is the 
same. 

If more men and women were taught, 
^^Know Thyself and Self -Control, there 
would be less insanity and suicide. This 
fact is so obvious that it is a wonder that it 
has been so completely overlooked by our 
nerve specialists and insanity experts. 

For it may be truly said that the mental- 
ly deranged and insane are like the wave 
of the sea, driven and tossed by the storm 
of an uncontrolled mind. 

What is a mental delusion? What is an 
hallucination? They are the spectres and 
phantoms of an uncontrolled mind. 

PEOPERLT CONTROLLED PASSIONS 
ESSENTIAL TO MAN'S PHYSICAL 
WELL BEING. 
Every person should know that the pas- 
sions have their origin in man's nature, 











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"Know Thy 


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and that they are essential to his physical 
well-being ; but they are not evil or ruinous 
of themselves; for it is only by indulging 
to excess, (and this is caused by a lack of 
self-control), that they become ruinous, for 
excess implies a perversion of the will. 

The law and principle of all man's pas- 
sions and desires have been made a part of 
his being for his good and not his harm, 
that they may actuate, incite and spur him 
unto the accomplishment of great and good 
deeds. It is only their abuse that does 
harm. 

No person should believe that they can 
ever be happy or successful unless they 
have full control of their desires and pas- 
sions. It is certainly dangerous and dis- 
astrous to man's physical and mental well 
being to give one's self up to sensuality, 
for these ungovemod passions are like a 
team of mighty horses, that are very use- 
ful when properly handled and under the 
discipline of a competent driver, who is 
their master, but extremely dangerous 
when they obtain the upper hand of a weak 



II 



The Immanence of God 



189 



driver. It is then that they become ungov- 
ernable and do great harm. 

Men's and women's desires and passions 
become very pernicious and extremely dan- 
gerous the moment they cease to govern 
them by the strictest discipline, for they 
will surely cause injury to themselves and 
others. 

The passions are levers which increase 
men's and women's physical and mental 
powers a hundred fold, and aid them in the 
accomplishment of things, but if, instead 
of ruling them they allow themselves to be 
controlled by them, they fall into every sort 
of excess, and the same force which, held 
well in hand, would have been useful to 
them, falls upon and crushes them. 

All the passions have their source in a 
natural sentiment and a natural want. 
They are therefore not evil in themselves, 
since they constitute one of the providen- 
tially-appointed conditions of our existence. 
What is usually meant by ^* Passion" is the 
exaggeration of a need or sentiment. But 
this exaggeration is the excessive action of 






















Know Thyself' 



a motive-power, and not the power itself; 
it is this excessive action that becomes an 
evil, and leads to evil consequences of every 
kind. Every passion that brings man 
nearer to the nature of the animals takes 
him farther from the spiritual nature, and 
is a sure sign he has no control over him- 
self. 

Every sentiment that raises man above 
the nature of the animals is evidence of the 
predominance of his spiritual nature over 
his animal nature and brings him nearer to 
perfection. Ordinarily a slight effort upon 
one's part suffices to enable him to van- 
quish his evil tendencies. Indeed, a very 
slight effort is often all that is needed if 
man will only use his will power, but it is 
sad to state that very few make any se- 
rious effort whatsoever to vanquish his evil 
passions, for if he will make but slight ef- 
fort to control himself he will obtain very 
good results. 

The action and force of the passions are 
never so strong and violent that man will 
be unable to overcome them or be powerless 





The Immanence of God 



to withstand them if he exerts his Primary 
Will. There are many who say ^^I Will/^ 
but whose will is only on their lips, and 
who are not sorry that what they declare 
themselves to be an action of will does not 
take place. When a man is unable to van- 
quish his passions, it is because, through 
the ignorance and lack of ^ ^mastery of 
self," he takes pleasure in yielding to 
them. He who controls his passions com- 
prehends his true nature; he knows that 
every victory over them is a sure sign he 
has controlled himself. This control can 
never be obtained unless one believes in 
himself (God) to accomplis-h it. 

^^SELFISHNESS THE CAUSE OF ALL 
SIN." 
Selfishness, which is caused by a lack of 
self-control, is the cardinal sin among all 
vices, and may be regarded as the root and 
origin of them ; for from selfishness every- 
thing evil proceeds and if you will study 
the sins and vices of mankind you will see 
that selfishness is at the bottom of them all. 
























You may combat sin and vice as you will 
and you will never succeed in extirpating 
them until, attacking the evil at its roots, 
you have destroyed the selfishness which is 
their cause. Let all your efforts tend to 
this end; 'for selfishness is the veritable so- 
cial gangrene. Whoever would make, even 
in his earthly life, some approach toward 
moral excellence, must root out every sel- 
fish feeling from his heart, for selfishness 
is incompatible with justice, love and char- 
ity; it neutralizes every good quality. In 
proportion as men become enlightened in 
regard to their inward self, they will attach 
less value to material things ; and as they 
emancipate themselves from the thraldom 
of Dogmatic religion and ignorance ,they 
reform the human institutions by which 
selfishness is fostered and excited. Such 
should be the aim of education. 

It is certain that selfishness is men's 
greatest evil. Have you upon the earth 
none who have divested themselves of sel- 
fishness, and who practice charity? There 
are more of such than you think, but they 




The Immanence of God 



193 



are little fcaown, for virtue does not seek 
to display itself in the glare of popularity. 
If there is one such among you, why should 
there not be ten, why should there not be a 
thousand, and so on? 

The greater the development of an evil, 
the more hideous it is seen to be. It was 
necessary for selfishness to do a vast 
amount of harm in order that you might 
see the necessity of extirpating it. When 
men shall have divested themselves of sel- 
fishness, they will live like brothers, doing 
each other no harm, but mutually aiding 
each other from a sentiment of solidarity. 
The strong will then be the support, and 
not the oppressor, of the weak; and none 
will lack the necessities of life, because the 
law of justice will be obeyed by all. 

Of all human inperfections, the most dif- 
ficult to root out is selfishness. Belief and 
faith in Self (God) when it comes to be 
rightly understood, and identified with the 
beliefs and habits of the human race, will 
transform all our customs, usages and so- 
cial relations by driving out selfishness. 














194 



''Know Thyself ' 










Selfishness is based on the unportanee you 
attribute to your own personality. The 
laws of Self (God) when rightly under- 
stood, causes you to look at everything 
from a point of view so elevated that the 
sentiment of personality is lost, so to say, 
in the contemplation of immensity. De- 
stroy the sentiment of self-importance by 
showing its real nature. A knowledge of 
God (Self) combats selfishness. 

Man, who is easily influenced, is often 
rendered selfish by his experience of the 
selfishness of others, which makes him feel 
the need of defending himself against them. 
Seeing that others think of themselves and 
not of him, he is led to think of himself 
rather than others. But let the principle of 
charity and fraternity become the basis of 
social institutions, of the legal relations be- 
tween nation and nation and between man, 
and each individual will think less of his 
own personal interests, because he will see 
that those have been thought of by others ; 
he will experience the moralizing influence 
of examples and contact. Amidst the pres- 



rr 



II 





m^ 



The Immanence of God 



ent overflow of selfislmess, much virtue is 
needed to enable a man to sacrifice his own 
mterests for the sake of others, who often 
feel but little gratitude for such abnega- 
tion. 

Laudable efforts should be made to help 
forward the progress of the human race; 
the generous sentiments should be encour- 
aged, stimulated, honored, more than has 
been the case at any former epoch, then the 
devouring worm of selfishness will not pest 
and torment society. It is a social disease 
that affects everyone, and of which every- 
one is more or less the victim; it should 
therefore be combated as we combat any 
other epidemic. 

To this end we must proceed and seek 
out in every department of the social fab- 
ric, from the relationships of the family to 
those of the nations, from the cottage to 
the palace, all the causes, all the influences, 
I)atent or secret, that maintain and develop 
selfishness. The causes of the malady 
being discovered, the remedy will spon- 
taneously present itself, and through the 









rsTx/M 
















''Know Thyself 



efforts of all, directed to a common end, 
the virus will gradually be extirpated. The 
cure may be slow, for the causes of the 
malady are many, but it is not impossible. 
It can only be effected, however, by going 
to the root of the evil, that is to say, by 
generalizing education; not the education 
which merely advances men in knowledge, 
but that which improves them morally by 
teaching them that God is within them. 
Education of self, rightly understood, is 
the key of moral progress. When the art 
of training one's self shall be understood 
as is the art of training the intellect, it 
will be possible to straighten a crooked na- 
ture as we straighten a crooked sapling. 
But this art demands a true knowledge of 
self, tact, and profound observation; it is 
a great mistake to suppose that the posses- 
sion of scientific knowledge suffices to en- 
able the teacher to exercise it with success. 
Whoever observes the life of a child, 
whether rich or poor, and notes all the per- 
nicious influences that act upon its weak- 
ness from the moment of its birth, the ig- 



c 



The Immanence of God 



norance and negligence of those who have 
charge of it in teaching it self control, and 
the mischievous tendency of many of the 
means employed with a view to moralize it, 
you will not wonder that the world should 
be so full of crooked sticks. But let the 
same skill and care be given to the controll- 
ing of the moral nature as to that of train- 
ing the intellect, and it will be seen that, 
even should some natures prove refractory, 
the greater number only need to be suitably 
controlled in order to yield good fruit. 

Man desires to be happy, and this desire, 
implanted in him by nature, prompts him 
to labor unceasingly to improve his condi- 
tion upon earth, and to seek the cause of 
the evils that afflict him, in order to remove 
them. When he thoroughly comprehends 
that selfishness is one of those causes, that 
it engenders the pride, ambition, cupidity, 
envy, hatred, jealousy, by which he is con- 
tinuously annoyed; that it brings trouble 
into all the social relations, provokes dis- 
sesions, destroys confidence, converts 
friends into foes, and obliges each indi- 










''Know Thyself 



vidual to remain constantly on the defen- 
sive against his neighbor, he will see that 
this vice is incompatible, not only with his 
own felicity, but even with his own se- 
curity; and the more he has suffered from 
it, the more keenly will he feel the necessity 
of fighting against it, as he fights against 
pestilence, dangerous animals, and every 
other source of disaster, for he will be com- 
pelled to do so in view of his own interest. 
Selfishness is the source of all the vices, 
as charity is the source of all the virtues. 
To destroy the one, to develop the other, 
should be the aim of all who desire to in- 
sure their own happiness, in the present 
life, as in the future. 



c^V^ 





CHAPTER IX. 

KNOW THYSELF- CONTEOL 
THYSELF. 
The surest and most efficacious method 
of insuring the moral improvement of the 
souPs present existence, is to ^^Know Thy- 
self/' and this can only be accomplished by 
a study of the nature, and possibilities of 
Self (God). Knowledge of thyself and the 
development of Self-Control are not diffi- 
cult to acquire; man has only to examine 
his soul at the close of each day and review 
all that he has done and accomplished, and 
see whether he has failed in, or slighted 
any opportunity to control himself. It 
was in this way that every one who has suc- 
ceeded in obtaining a knowledge of himself, 
has ascertained what there was in him that 
needed reforming. He who, every evening, 
recalls all the actions of the day, asking 
himself whether he has made a sincere ef- 

199 






















Know Thyself' 



fort to control himself will acquire great 
strength of will and bring about his self- 
improvement. Ask yourself these ques- 
tions; inquire of yourself what you have 
done, and what was your aim in acting in 
such a manner; whether you have done 
anything or said anything because you 
failed to control yourself that you would be 
ashamed to avow. Examine what you have 
done against your neighbor; and lastly, 
against yourself. The answers to these 
questions will either give repose to your 
conscience, or show you some lack of self- 
control of which you will have to cure your- 
self by firmly determining not to let it hap- 
pen again. 

Self-knowledge is, therefore, the key to 
individual improvement ; but, you will ask, 
^*How is one to judge one's self? Is not 
each man subject to the illusions of self- 
love, which diminish his faults in his own 
eyes and find excuses for them? The miser 
thinks himself to be merely practising econ- 
omy and foresight; the proud man thinks 
his pride to be only dignity. ' ' This is true, 



The Immanence of God 



201 



but you have a means of ascertainment that 
cannot deceive you. When you are in 
doubt as to the quality of any one of your 
actions, ask yourself what would be your 
judgment in regard to it if it were done by 
another ? If you would blame it in another, 
it cannot be less blamable when done by 
you. 

Justice has neither two weights nor two 
measures. Endeavor also to learn what is 
thought of it by others; and do not over- 
look the opinion of your enemies, for they 
have no interest in disguising the truth. 
They are beside you as a mirror, to warn 
you more frankly than would be done by a 
friend. Let him then, who is firmly re- 
solved on self-improvement by self-control, 
examine his conscience in order to root out 
his evil tendencies, as he roots out the 
weeds from his garden; let him, every 
night, cast up his moral accounts for the 
day, as the tradesman counts up his profits 
and loss; he may be sure that the former 
will be a more profitable operation than the 
latter. He who, after the footing up of 

























''Know Thyself 



his day's doings, can say the balance of the 
account is in his favor, by his having 
^^ Faith" in himself to completely master 
himself, may sleep in peace, and fearlessly 
await the moment of his awakening. Let 
the questions you address be clear and pre- 
cise, and do not hesitate to multiply them ; 
you may well devote a few minutes to the 
securing of a power that will serve you for- 
ever. Do you not labor every day with a 
view to insuring repose in your old age? 
Is not this repose the object of your desire, 
the aim that prompts your endurance of 
the fatigue and privations of the moment? 
But what comparison is there between a 
few days of rest, impared by the infirmities 
of the body, and the health and souPs satis- 
faction of a well balanced and controlled 
mind? And is not this latter worth the 
making of a few efforts? I know you will 
say that '^This is a very difficult thing to 
do," but this is precisely the error I am 
charged to remove from your minds by 
showing you, that the power to do this lies 
within you, in such a way as to leave no 



ii 



1! 




The Immanence of God 

doubt in your mind concerning it. This is 
why, ^^The Master Jesus," admonished 
men to control themselves. I now give 
you the teachings of ^^The Master" that 
each of you who believe is charged to 
spread abroad in his turn. It is to this end 
that I have written this book ^^KNOW 
THYSELF." It is the best lesson you 
will ever learn. ^^ Control Thyself" it will 
be the best act of your whole life. Believe 
in ^^ Yourself" you will then be faithful to 
God (Self). 

Many of the faults you commit are the 
results of an uncontrolled mind, and are 
passed over by you unperceived. If, fol- 
lowing the advice I give you, you interro- 
gate your conscience more frequently, you 
would see how often you have done wrong 
without being aware of it, because you have 
failed to scrutinize the nature and motive 
of your acts. The interrogative mode of 
self-examination for a lack of sufficient self- 
control, is more precise than the mere 
vague admission of a standard of rectitude 
which you too often fail to apply in detail 





















to your own actions. It compels you to 
give yourselves, in regard to the quality of 
those actions, categoric answers, by ^'Yes 
and No ' ' that you have no room for equivo- 
cation, and that constitute so many per- 
sonal arguments addressed to your inner- 
most selves, so many returns which aid you 
to compute the sum of power within you. 

ETERNAL SUFFEEINa. 
Those who think that man's destiny, if 
he do wrong here, means eternal punish- 
ment, should interrogate their common 
sense and reason, and ask themselves 
whether an eternal condemnation by an 
angry God for a few moments of error 
would not be foolish. What in fact, is the 
duration of a human life, even though pro- 
longed to a hundred years, in comparison 
with eternity ? ' ' Eternity " ; do you rightly 
comprehend the word? Sufferings, tor- 
tures without end, without hope, for a few 
faults. Does not your judgment reject 
such an idea? That the ancients should 
have seen, in the Master of the Universe, 



c 

c 

k: 



li- 



The Immanence of God 



205 



a terrible, jealous, vindicitive God of the 
Christians, who places love, charity, pity 
and forgetfulness of offenses, in the fore- 
most rank of virtues, and who could not 
lack the qualities which He has made it the 
duty of His creatures to possess. Is it not 
a contradiction to attribute to Him infinite 
love and infinite vengeance? You say that 
God's justice is infinite, transcending the 
limited understanding of mankind; but 
justice does not exclude kindness, and God 
would not be kind if he condemned the 
greater number of His creatures to hor- 
rible and unending punishment. Could he 
make it obligatory on His children to be 
just, if His own action toward them did not 
give them the most perfect standard of 
justice ? And is it not the very sublimity of 
justice and kindness to make the duration 
of punishment to depend on the efforts of 
the guilty one to amend them through a 
knowledge of self, and for self to mete out 
the appropriate recompense, both for good 
and for evil, to each, according to his 
works? 


















Know Thyself' 



Set yourselves, by every means in your 
power, to combat and to annihilate the idea 
of eternal punishment, which is a blas- 
phemy against the justice and goodness of 
God (Self). When once a man has re- 
ceived enlightenment, and begins to know 
himself, in however slight a degree, the 
monstrous injustice of such an idea is im- 
mediately perceived; reason rejects it, and 
rarely fails to confound, in the same ostra- 
cism, the penalty against which it revolts, 
and the God to whom that penalty is at- 
tributed. Hence the numberless ills that 
have burst upon you, and for which this 
work will bring you a remedy. This task 
I point out to you will be all the easier be- 
cause the defenders of this belief have 
avoided giving a positive opinion in regard 
to it ; neither the Councils nor the Fathers 
of the Church have definitely settled this 
weighty question. If Christ, according to 
the Evangelist the literal interpretation of 
His allegorical utterances, threaten the 
guilty with a fire that is unquenchable, 
there is absolutely nothing in those utter- 



i 





The Immanence of God 



ances to prove that they are condemned to 
remain in that fire eternally. 

Hapless sheep that have gone astray, 
behold, advancing toward yon, the Good 
Shepherd, who, so far from intending to 
drive you forever from His presence, comes 
Himself to seek yon, that he may lead you 
back to the fold of self control. Prodigal 
children, renounce your voluntary exile, 
and turn your steps toward the God within 
you. 

^^ ETERNAL PUNISHMENTS.^' 

^^Wars of words, wars of words,'' has 
not enough blood been already shed for 
words, and must the fires of the stakes be 
rekindled for them? Men dispute about 
the words, ^^ Eternal punishment," ^^ever- 
lasting burning"; but do you know that 
what you now understand by eternity was 
not understood in the same way by the 
ancients? Let the theologian consult the 
sources of his faith, and he, like the rest 
of you, will see that in the Hebrew text, 
the words which the Greeks, the Latins, 













208 



'Knoiv Thyself" 



■:;"> 



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-f^rl 



irrii 



and the moderns, have translated as end- 
less and irremissible punishment, has not 
the same meaning. Eternity of punish- 
ment, has not the same meaning. Eternity 
of punishment corresponds to eternity of 
evil. Yes, so long as evil continues to exist 
among you, so long will punishment con- 
tinue to exist; it is in this relative sense 
that the sacred texts should be interpreted. 
The eternity of punishment, therefore, is 
not absolute, but relative. Let a day come 
when all men shall have donned the robe of 
Self-Control and Faith in self, and on that 
day there will be no more weeping, wailing, 
or gnashing of teeth. Your human reason 
is, in truth, of narrow scope ; but, such as it 
is, it is a part of you, and there is no man of 
right feeling, who, with the aid of that rea- 
son, understands the eternity of punish- 
ment in any other sense. If we admit eter- 
nity of punishment, we must also admit 
that evil will be eternal ; but if God alone is 
eternal, He could not have created an 
eternal evil, without plucking from his at- 
tributes the most magnificent of them all. 



!i 



X/Sr- 





The Immanence of God 



viz.; His sovereign powers; for lie who 
creates an element destructive of his works 
is not sovereignly powerful. Plunge no 
more thy mournful glance, human race, 
into the entrails of the earth, in search of 
chastisements. Weep, but hope ; take com- 
fort in the thought of the Power, (God) 
within you, who is entirely loving, abso- 
lutely powerful, essentially just. 

Union with the Divine Self should be the 
aim of human existence. To the attainment 
of this aim four things are necessary- 
knowledge, love, justice, self-control; four 
things are contrary to this aim,— ignor- 
ance, hatred, injustice, superstition. You 
are false to these fundamental principles 
when you falsify the idea of Faith in the 
powers within you. Don't be alarmed by 
those who teach the doctrines and policies 
of the Middle Ages, with its hideous array 
of tortures, executions, and the stake. 

BOILING CALDRONS. 
When the principle of the indiscriminate 
retaliation has been banished forever from 






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210 


"Knoiv Thmelf" 


^^S^!rCjL^ 


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human legislation, can you hope to make 
men believe that i^rinciple to be the rule 
of the Divine Government! Believe me, 
brothers in Jesus Christ, you must either 
resign yourselves to let all your dogmas 
and superstitions perish in your hands 
rather than modify them. The idea of a 
hell full of glowing furnaces and boiling 
caldrons might be creditable to an age of 
iron; in the twentieth century it can be 
nothing more than an empty phantom, 
capable, at the utmost, of frightening lit- 
tle children, and by which the children 
themselves will no longer be frightened 
when they are a little bigger. By your per- 
sistence in upholding mythic terrors, you 
engender incredulity, source of every sort 
of social disorganization ; and I tremble at 
beholding the very foundations of social 
order shaken and crumbling into dust for 
want of an authoritative code of penality. 
Let all those who are animated by a living 
and ardent faith in themselves (God) unite 
their efforts, not to keep up antiquated 
fables now fallen into disrepute, but to re- 



The Immanence of God 



211 



suscitate and revivify the true idea of 
penality, under forms in harmony with the 
usages, sentiments, and enlightenment of 
our epoch. 

What, in fact, is a sinner? One who, by 
the deviation from the right road, by a 
false movement of the soul, has swerved 
from the true aim of his creation, which 
consists in the harmonius worship of the 
Beautiful, the Good, as embodied in the 
arch-type of humanity, the Divine Ex- 
amplar, Jesus Christ. 

What is chastisement? The natural, de- 
rivative consequence of that false move- 
ment ; the amount of pain necessary to dis- 
gust the sinner with his departure from 
rectitude, by his experience of his suffering 
caused from that departure. Chastisement 
is the goad which, by the smarting it occa- 
sions, decides the soul to cut short its wan- 
derings, and to return into the right road 
of Self-Control. The sole aim of chastise- 
ment is rehabilitation, and, therefore, to as- 
sume the eternity of chastisement is to de- 
prive it of all reason for existing. 





















''Know Thyself 



Cease, I beseech you, the attempt to es- 
tablish a parallelism of duration between 
good, essence of the Creator, and evil, es- 
sence of the creature ; for, in so doing, you 
establish a standard of penalty that is ut- 
terly without justification. Affirm, on the 
contrary, the gradual diminution of imper- 
fections and of chastisements through 
knowing thyself (God), and you concen- 
trate the doctrine of the union of the crea- 
ture with the Creator by the reconciliation 
of justice with mercy. 

It is desired to stimulate men to the ac- 
quisition of virtue, and to turn them from 
vice, by the ho'pe of reward, and the fear 
of punishment ; but, if the threatened pun- 
ishment is represented under conditions re- 
pugnant to reason, not only will it fail of 
its aim, but it will lead men, in rejecting 
these conditions, to reject the very idea of 
punishment itself. But let the idea of re- 
wards and punishments be presented to 
their minds under a reasonable form and 
they will not reject it. This reasonable ex- 
planation of the subject is given by the 
original teachings of The Master Jesus. 



11 



Ji 



n 



The Immanence of God 213 

TERRIFIC TORTURES. 

The doctrine of eternal punishment 
makes an implacable God of the Supreme 
Being. Would it be reasonable to say of a 
sovereign that he is very kind, very benev- 
olent, very indulgent, that he only desires 
the happiness of all around him, but that he 
is, at the same time, jealous, vindicitive, 
inflexibly severe, and that he punishes 
three-quarters of his subjects with the most 
terrific torture, for any offense, or any in- 
fraction of his laws, even, when their im- 
puted fault has resulted simply from their 
ignorance of the laws they have trans- 
gressed? And can God's action be less 
consistent than that of a man? 

The doctrine in question presents an- 
other contradiction. Since God, if he is all 
powerful, etc., foreknows all thingSy He 
must have known, in creating a soul, that 
it would transgress His laws, and it must 
therefore have been, from its very forma- 
tion, predestined by Him to eternal misery ; 
but is such an assumption reasonable or ad- 
missible? The doctrine of the punishment 













^!^ ,N A A y\^ 















Know Thyself' 



proportioned to wrong-doing, is, on the con- 
trary, entirely consonant with reason and 
justice. Such a God undoubtedly foresaw, 
in creating a given soul, that, in its ignor- 
ance, it would do wrong. 

The word eternal is often figuratively 
employed, in common parlance, to desig- 
nate any long period of duration of which 
the end is not foreseen, although it is 
known that it will come in the course of 
time. We speak, for instance, of *Hhe 
Eternal Snows'' of mountain peaks and 
polar regions, although we know, on one 
hand, that our globe will come to an end, 
and, on the other hand, that the state of 
these regions may be changed by the nor- 
mal displacement of the earth's axis, or by 
some cataclysm. The word eternal, there- 
fore, in this case, does not mean infinitely 
perpetual. We say, in the suffering of 
some long illness, that our days present the 
same *^ eternal round" of weariness. Is it 
strange, then, that men should express 
themselves in this way? However, we must 
not forget that their state of ignorance of 



i 



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C^'^XX^vO^ 




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Ul^ 


ffni — n 


J 


The Immanence of God 


215 


li^clrcil 



n 



Self (God) prevents them from knowing 
otherwise, and that they therefore believe 
themselves to be destined to suffer forever ; 
a belief which is itself a part of their pun- 
ishment for their ignorance of Self (God). 
The doctrine of Material Fire, of fur- 
naces, and tortures borrowed from the 
pagan Tartarus, is completely given up by 
many of the most eminent theologians of 
the present day, who admit that the word 
^*fire'^ is employed figuratively in the 
Bible, and is to be understood as meaning 
moral fire. Those who have observed in- 
stances of the life beyond the grave, as pre- 
sented to their view by the communications 
of spirits, have had ample proof that its 
sufferings are none the less excruciating 
for not being of material nature. And even 
as regards the duration of those sufferings, 
many theologians are beginning to admit 
the restriction indicated above, and to con- 
sider that the word eternal may be consid- 
ered as referring to the principle of pen- 
ality in itself, and as the consequences of 
an immutable law, and not to its applica- 









tion to each individual. When religious 
teaching shall only admit this interpreta- 
tion, it will bring back a belief in Self and 
in a future life many who are now losing 
themselves in the mazes of materialism, 
Dogmatic Theology and Superstition. 







It 




II 





CHAPTER X. 

^^IT IS FAITH IN SELF (GOD) THAT 
HELPS.'' 

In all ages of the world among all man- 
kind there has been very much suffering 
and intense agony from physical disease 
and mental ailments. Man's total ignor- 
ance of the God within himself, and his 
consequent lack of Faith in his own abil- 
ity to ward off disease, combined with his 
inability to control himself to such an ex- 
tent that he might become an immune 
against disease, makes him an easy victim 
to divers ailments, who must suffer for his 
ignorance. 

If you believe that men and women can- 
not ward off disease, promote their physi- 
cal and mental well-being, retain their 
physical and sexual activity, and prolong 
their life by keeping the organs and func- 
tions of the body strong and vigorous, by 

217 



















Knoiv Thyself' 



having confidence and faith in themselve to 
accomplish this, then yon are a fatalist. 

A fatalist is one who lays down, figura- 
tively speaking. He believes his fate and 
destiny have been preordained, mapped 
out, and any effort he makes to help him- 
self to keep healthy and to become an im- 
mune against disease, counts for naught. 
Everything that happens to them or the 
members of their family (and how the chil- 
dren of such foolish parents need knowl- 
edge and help) is the very thing that God 
wanted to happen. They excuse them- 
selves of any blame or responsibility what- 
soever. It was to happen, so they think, 
and now that it has happened, what can 
they do? 

These deluded, superstitious victims of 
their ignorance receive much satisfaction 
in leaving it all to God or Providence. If 
this is true, certainly ^^God'' or *' Prov- 
idence ' ' must have mighty little pity or con- 
cern for suffering men and women, or else 
he must be a big stock-holder in the Drug 
Trust and have a controlling interest in the 



The Immanence of God 



219 



*^ Doctor Combine.'' The Drug Trust, Hos- 
pitals, Nurses, Healers, Patent Medicine 
Concerns, Grafters, and those Vampires, 
(Nervous Debility and Lost Vitality Spe- 
cialists), who camp on the trail of the un- 
fortunate, are the ones who get the divi- 
dends paid by the smart individuals of 
today, who know it all, and still know 
nothing of themselves. Every doctor's and 
every druggist's greatest asset is the ignor- 
ance of the masses, who have no knowl- 
edge of how they should conduct them- 
selves when there is any chance of their 
being attacked by disease. 

Fortunes are spent in teaching physical 
culture. Men devote time to learning the 
art of self-defense so as to protect them- 
selves from a visible foe. Any amount of 
money is spent by people for things they 
really do not need, and which do them 
very little, if any good. Millions of dollars 
are spent to cure disease, but not the slight- 
est effort is made to instruct and teach peo- 
ple how to protect themselves against dis- 
ease. Nobody seems to know or under- 

























stand the fundamental principle and na- 
tural law for the prevention and cure of 
disease. None will ever know this until 
they know themselves. The means to re- 
main healthy lies within you. There is no 
need of spending money to obtain it. 

It is the duty of men and women to keep 
their bodies free of susceptibility to dis- 
ease. It is true there are thousands of pre- 
ventatives and cures for disease, all of 
which men and women have sought to free 
themselves from disease and remain 
healthy. There are some who have tired of 
medicine and have put their hope in Chris- 
tian Science or some system which pre- 
tends to cure with some mysterious, intan- 
gible force. 

In some parts of the world, South Amer- 
ica, South Africa and British West Indies, 
we find cures being made by invoking spir- 
its, Magic, incantations, etc., in which the 
natives believe. Just note what is said: 
*^ Cures are made because these people have 
an inward belief that they will be cured.'' 
Don't believe for a moment that there is 




The Immanence of God 



any virtue in their Voodoo Ceremonies or 
Witch Doctors to cure. ^^ Jesus The Mas- 
ter'' said to those he cured,'' Do you be- 
lieve, according to your belief be it unto 
you." So it is with the native in semi- 
civilized countries. In ancient times the 
people were taught to make sacrifice to a 
sun God or some saint. 

Today we have the prayers and chants 
of the faithful who go to such shrines as 
St, Anne and others, who are supposed to 
possess the power to cure disease. 

Drugless healing, Christian Science, 
Mental Science, Suggestive Therapeutics, 
Fasting, Sun Worshipping, and many other 
methods of curing disease are widely ad- 
vertised as sure cures of disease and ail- 
ments. Of course these methods are looked 
upon as foolish and superstitious and their 
promoters as charlatans, quacks, grafters 
or cranks. 

Nevertheless there are many cures made 
by these methods, for we have authentic 
evidence and unimpeachable testimony that 
astonishing cures are made, especially at 











''Know Thyself 












the shrines in Canada, Pittsburg, Pa., Chi- 
cago, III, and other places where remark- 
able cures are authenticated. 

There is no question that cures are really 
made, but the question to settle once and 
for all is to find out why cures are made 
by so many dissimilar systems and by peo- 
ple unlike in creed, belief or color. 

The Psychologist claims it's suggestion 
(Hypnotism). The Christian Scientists 
spend their time and efforts trying to elim- 
inate something which, they claim, does 
not exist. They admit suffering and see 
it in their patients, and in the next breath 
claim that such a thing does not exist. 

When the Christian Scientist Healer suc- 
ceeds in manipulating the mentality of the 
patient so it believes it has no disease 
the patient believes it will improve or get 
well. The more strenuous and firm the be- 
lief the more rapid will be their recovery. 

Now isn't this justly exactly what *^The 
Master Jesus" tells his followers to do? 
Believe, have Faith in yourself (God) '^and 
according to your belief be it unto you.'' 




nniSJW^ 



The Immanence of God 



223 



It makes very little difference whether 
you have faith in Christian Science, Sug- 
gestion, Medicine, Spirits, a petrified Po- 
tato, or Voodoo incantation, just so you 
possess the Faith. 

Where there is no faith in the patient 
they all fail. Faith is absolutely essential. 
All these people with their cure-alls and 
divers methods furnish the stage, but the 
chief actor, the whole show, is your Faith 
that you will be cured. 

Whenever the sick, the afflicted, the lame 
and the halt cease furnishing the actors in 
the shapes of credulity, the footlights will 
be lowered on these stages. The play will go 
on no more, for the only stock in trade these 
people have is the unfailing ^^ Faith" that 
the sick have that they will recover. The 
Master Jesus was neither a fool nor a 
hypocrite. He knew that the wherewithal 
to cure disease was in man, that it was his 
God. That he should believe in the God 
within himself and if he did this intelli- 
gently, consistently and Faithfully he 
would be cured. Men and women should 



a 



1XZJ<^ 





tx^-^ 




224 



'Know Thyself' 













burn these stupendeous, Mighty and far 
reaching words into their very souls. ^^The 
Lord thy God in the midst of thee is 
mighty/' ^^I have told you ye are God's/* 
^*The Kingdom of God is within you/* 
^'The Father is in me, I in him, and we in 
you/* Ye are the Temple of the Living 
God/* ^'God is spirit, (meaning you.— your 
soul) and they that ivorship Him must wor- 
ship (believe, have faith) in spirit, (your- 
self) and in truth.** 

Jesus said, *^I have told you ye are God's. 
Yet how many act and conduct themselves 
as if they thought they were God's. How 
many believe that all power. (The Kingdom 
of God) is within them. Not many. 

Look into the face of cringing, shrinking, 
stoop shouldered men and women ; they re- 
semble some hunted animal more than they 
do a God. 

The very expression on the face of some 
people indicates a guilty liason of them- 
selves with doubt of self. I can't, I am 
afraid, and self-condemnation sticks out of 
their very ears. Instead of having a union 






I 

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The Immanence of God 



225 



between themselves and confidence, belief 
and Faith they have just the opposite. In- 
stead of believing in themselves for health 
they pin their faith in a Pill box or some 
popular well advertised ^^dope.'^ 

Instead of believing in themselves for 
success they either curse their luck or pay a 
Michigan Ave. Clairvoyant (Grafter) or 
some Hoodoo doctor for a prediction, a 
talisman or a charm. 

They pin their belief anywhere, only just 
where they should. The most foolish, the 
most unnatural, the most impossible and 
superstitious things are what they believe 
in. 

THE PROFESSIONAL HEALER. 

We hear so much about the power of 
the mind over the body ; what, this invisible 
power the Suggestionist or Healer does not 
explain, although it cures. Sometimes the 
Healer or individual giving the treatment 
invokes or attracts the power and some- 
times it is supposed to be the Patient. Then 
we have that smooth individual, which the 



226 



'Know Thyself" 



^ 



^ 



federal authorities have been trying to get 
in their power for using the mails to 
swindle, the gentleman who gives ^'absent 
treatments." This seems to be almost 
the limit ; it really would seem that credu- 
lity would waver and fall before it would go 
this distance. However, it seems to make 
no difference, we find the victims breaking 
their necks to kneel at this shrine. At this 
very moment when you are reading this 
page there are many of these duped people 
lying down at home on some bed or couch, 
eyes closed, muscles relaxed, mind passive 
with toes turned inward or some other 
trick that will arouse their faith, receiving 
an absent treatment for which they have 
forwarded their dollar. 

The writer was informed that one of 
these gentlemanly, silent method, absent 
treatment operators, had two thousand 
dupes all over the world, who paid him 
from one to five dollars a treatment. Heal- 
ing currents propelled to the sick. Health- 
giving thoughts transmitted anywhere to 
the sick who are willing to send on the coin. 




^}^^^ syyv>^fririiw 



The Immanence of God 227 

Healing circles encircle the globe. Healing 
vibrations sent out to the faithful. Of 
course, the people at the head of these heal- 
ing currents, and the health-giving thought 
incubation centers are growing wealthy, 
and why not? They cure some of their pa- 
tients, not because they really transmit, 
but because their patients believe, have 
faith that they will be benefited, that they 
will be cured or helped, ^^for so he it unto 
them/^ 

The results obtained from so many dif- 
ferent methods show instantly that there 
is a fundamental law, an immutable force 
brought into action by the patients' faith 
and belief. 

This power, this element, common to 
mankind, is brought into action just the 
moment an individual believes or has faith. 
This force or power can be brought into 
operation for man's good or his harm. 
Those people who take ^^ absent treatment" 
or need the aid of the Christian Scientist, 
have allowed their belief to sway in the 
wrong direction to their detriment. 














Know Thyself' 



If they knew themselves this would never 
have happened. If they had known enough 
to control themselves they would have 
never let their belief or faith waver and 
swing in the wrong direction The Healer 
and Christian Scientist (so-called) are able 
to sway their belief back and just as soon as 
this happens their patients are better. 

That the voodoo's incantation, the saint's 
prayer, the ^'afl&rmations and denials" of 
the Christian Scientist, the bluff of the *^ ab- 
sent treatment" operators do effect cures 
leaves only the sensible conclusion that 
'^ Jesus The Master" was right when he 
said, ^' Faith is the substance of things 
hoped for." 

Faith in the divers remedies, and the dis- 
similar methods brings into action the 
force within to cure and eliminate disease, 
and from which cures are wrought. 

When men and women have found the 
^'lost word" of ''The Master," when they 
awaken and find that they have been led by 
the blind they will discover the true law 
and principle of ''healing." This law and 



H 



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II 



principle has in the past been lost and 
buried in the rubbish, hidden beneath graft, 
superstition, ignorance, quackery and hu- 
man greed. 

The reason it has been overlooked is be- 
cause many greatly prefer to hold God re- 
sponsible or the Devil guilty for their afflic- 
tion. Again from the Middle Ages until this 
day some people greatly prefer to believe 
in some external mystic force to help them. 

Any person who doubts that the only as- 
set that Dr. Dowie had was his strong per- 
sonality (the direct result of his stupen- 
dous faith in himself), and the faith of his 
followers in him, does not know enough 
about the subject matter under considera- 
tion here to discuss it intelligently, and con- 
sequently cannot arrive at a truthful con- 
clusion regarding the cause of his wonder- 
ful following and his phenomenal but short- 
lived success. 

Dr. Dowie himself was so blinded by 
pride and egotism that he failed to see this. 
After a while, when his stupendous ego- 
tism, dogmatic gospel, tyrannical conduct 














230 ''Know Thyself 

and ignorance landed him among stormy 
waters he quickly became a nervous wreck 
and went to his grave a broken hearted old 
man. 

That Dr. Dowie made cures is true. That 
he was a despotic ruler of the faithful is 
known. That he had an imperious, despotic 
nature, which desired absolute monarchy 
and strict discipline over the whole life of 
his disciples, is a matter of history. 

Even with all this to his credit, or rather 
discredit, he did cure disease and ailments. 
However, no credit is due Dr. Dowie for 
the cures made any further than they were 
the result of the faith his followers had 
in him. When his success and cures are 
considered from any other standpoint they 
become undeserving of serious attention. 

Of course, there are many who, when 
shown it really is the power within men 
and women that heals and cures, and that 
this force is developed and brought into 
action by Faith and belief in it, will not 
believe that they must bring this law into 
action by their own efforts. These people, 



The Immanence of God 



--^Trltti* 



of course, have their own pet hobbies and 
idols and for obvious reasons, best known 
to themselves, will still continue to harbor 
the children of superstition and quackery. 
In doing this they harm no one but them- 
selves^ 




THE PATIENT'S FAITH. 
Treatment by Suggestion, Mental Heal- 
ing, and Christian Science and the divers 
methods which get results because the pa- 
tient has faith, have within the last few 
years made a wonderful advance and show 
a degree of vitality that no other system, 
or method of practice can show in the same 
length of time. The most wonderful part 
of the whole thing is, that the patient pays 
them for curing his disease, when in reality 
he cures himself by his own faith or belief 
in their methods. The followers of the 
original teachings of ^^The Master Jesus" 
and those who have identified themselves 
with his way of curing and preventing dis- 
ease, combined with the thousands who 
have never before interested themselves in 



'->- u <:£> 




g 



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i! 



:fM?rTW 














the God within them, but, who now desire 
and are anxious to learn something of 
themselves, constitute a large body of 
good, intelligent and thinking people, 
who see, as every observing person 
must, the inconsistencies of Christian 
Science Healers, Suggestion, Electrical ap- 
pliances, quacks and grafters whose meth- 
ods and means of curing disease have no 
virtue whatsoever outside of their ability 
to arouse the Faith of their patients. 

The question of greatest interest and im- 
portance is the cause, origin and cure of 
disease. The fundamental desire and wish 
of every human heart is health and hap- 
piness. A true and logical explanation of 
the cause and cure of disease can only be 
had by a thorough and scientific under- 
standing of the nature of the life and vital 
forces within the body. When their rela- 
tion to and influence over the material part 
of man is understood disease and sickness 
will no longer be a mystery, nor will the 
many startling cures which have been made 
by Magnetic Treatment, Christian Science 



I 
I 



^1 



The Immanence of God 



233 



and Suggestion. All seemingly miraculous, 
their cause and cure are based upon nat- 
ural law. Faith and belief bring into op- 
eration the law that regulates and controls 
the unseen life-forces within the physical 
body. Its application effects these so- 
called miraculous cures. This is a funda- 
mental, and has for its basis, common sense 
and reason. The mind or mental forces in- 
fluence, regulate and control every organ, 
function, sensation and condition of the 
material body. Perverted mental condi- 
tions and activities are conducive to and 
result in functional or organic disease. 
Mental perversion, a worried condition of 
the mind develops, excites, aggravates and 
prolongs diseased conditions in the body. 

When a sick person's thoughts are pro- 
perly directed and their mental attitude or 
condition changed from a morbid, gloomy 
one to a more normal, confident and healthy 
state, the progress of disease can be ar- 
rested, ultimately resulting in a complete 
restoration to healthy conditions of every 
diseased organ or impaired function of the 















i^T^^J^ 




^ZTTC 



body. This is the fundamental and true 
principle of the law which underlies the 
cure of disease by different methods. After 
the patient has been placed in a passive 
state by some Healer, and becomes highly 
susceptible to Suggestion, certain abnormal 
or perverted mental conditions, which are 
the origin and cause of the so-called ^^neur- 
osis'' or neurotic affections, can be cured, 
because by suggestion the patient is made 
to believe he will improve. Medicine has 
no direct or beneficial mental effect ; it can- 
not alter or change these perverted and 
diseased mental conditions which are the 
result of a lack of self-control, and which 
cause and promote nervous diseases. It 
is an established and indisputable fact that 
a properly controlled and well balanced 
mind is absolutely essential to a normal 
and healthy body. For proof of this state- 
ment observe the many human beings in 
every walk, and avenue of life who are 
sorrowful victims of certain perverted 
mental states. 

How often the loving and devoted wife 




The Immanence of God 



235 



who had spent years of happiness and com- 
fort with her husband quickly follows him 
to the grave, her grief- stricken mind con- 
stantly brooding over the loss of her loved 
one, soon develops some fatal disease. 
Here the ordinary medical treatment does 
not seem to have any beneficial effect. The 
physician is puzzled at the ineffectiveness 
of his medicine to cure the disease. The 
facts of the case are, that the bodily dis- 
ease was caused by certain mental condi- 
tions (sorrow and grief) which have pro- 
duced certain abnormal physical condi- 
tions, inhibiting life's energy and with a 
cruel, relentless hand driving its victim 
down to an untimely grave. 

And as homely comment truthfully says ; 
'* Grieved to death, died of a broken heart. '% 
Drugs failed where Self-Control and Faith 
by its presentation to this wearied and 
heartsick mind, cheer and hope for the fu- 
ture, thereby changing these demoralizing 
and fatal mental conditions, which would 
have checked the advance of disease and 
death, by regulating the turbulent tides and 



'M^ 
















Know Thyself' 



currents (mental forces) of this troubled 
heart. 

^^ FAITH" VERSUS SCIENCE. 

** Every kingdom divided against itself 
is brought to desolation; and every city or 
house divided against itself shall not 
stand." (Matt, xii: 25.) 

It has been said that Medicine is a 
science. By its own professors and practi- 
tioners it is called ' ' The Science of Guess- 
ing," for the reason that the physiological 
effect of medicine is extremely problemat- 
ical. It has not been such a great length 
of time since one school of medicine was 
prosecuting the practitioners of another. 

There is no art in the science of medicine 
or surgery to find the mind's construction. 

Truth is never inconsistent with itself; 
mind or mental forces are never inconsis- 
tent with the physical body. The members 
of the medical profession who are wise and 
learned in the science of physiology and 
surgery are surprisingly deficient in scien- 
tific knowledge of the human mind or life- 



forces within the body, or the God within 
The Temple. A scientific knowledge of 
Selfj or the science of the human mind, 
and its influence over and relation to the 
human body is a necessity suggested by 
such plain, everyday common sense as to 
render its neglect and absence absolutely 
unjustifiable in those who profess to prac- 
tice medicine or surgery. 

No physician, or any one upon whom is 
imposed the vital responsibilities involved 
in professional life can certainly claim any 
moral excuse for apathy or prejudice in 
the presence of demonstrable truths. 
Neither have they any right to remain ig- 
norant of the natural law which heals. 

We should be honest and impartial in 
our observation and investigation of any 
means, method, system or remedy which 
will prevent or alleviate human suffering. 
Any knowledge that can promote the 
health, happiness and welfare of humanity 
should be considered with enthusiasm by 
the true physician who has his patients' 
welfare at heart and welcomed as a bless- 














238 ''Know Thyself' 

ing to humanity as a great stride in scien- 
tific achievement. 

Every truth-loving, honest-hearted, fair- 
minded friend of sick and misguided hu- 
manity knows that dissension, rivalry, 
jealousy and hostility between members of 
the medical profession is a house divided 
against itself and a detriment to the public 
good. At all times, in all places, the object 
should be the interest of the sick. 

When sickness and disease are cured by 
any means whatsoever, be it the patient's 
faith, or be it by drugs, the fact of the cure 
can only be established by observation and 
human testimony. It must be a prejudiced 
mind that would accept the testimony of a 
cure by one agent that would refuse to give 
recognition to the facts of a cure of an- 
other, when the evidence which establishes 
the authenticity of the cure in both cases 
is based upon equally reliable testimony. 

A man who would accept the sky and 
deny the earth is no more to be trusted as 
a medical adviser or guide in matters of 
life and death than one who would accept 
the earth and deny the sky. 



wiMrn 






The Immanence of God 



The man who would ignore a cure by- 
Faith or Self-Control and would give cre- 
dence to a cure by medicine when the wit- 
nesses to both cures were equally reliable 
is just as unfair, unreasonable and unde- 
sirable as a medical adviser, or a mentor in 
human affairs, as he who saw with his eyes 
and heard with his ears only those facts 
which serve to defend and sustain a materi- 
alistic proposition. Every physician of ex- 
tensive professional experience has seen— 
provided his eyes were willing servants— 
cases which have been drugged to death, 
and others which have been operated to 
death, while on the other hand, those en- 
gaged in Christian Science and Suggestion, 
have repeatedly witnessed the wonderful 
curative and beneficial results of *^ faith"; 
they, however, call it the action of mind 
over matter. 

Many have seen the patient's ^^ faith" 
start functions and organs that were slug- 
gish, and those that were over-active reg- 
ulated and allayed. By patients having 
** faith" many have seen inflammation and 













240 ''Knoiv Thyself' 

fever subdued, and witness lulled to a 
peaceful sleep those who were suffering 
mental tortures, their nervous system hav- 
ing been demoralized and shattered by- 
narcotics. ^^ Faith" in oneself— or some 
method of cure, has been the means at times 
of turning the tide of life from waning to 
waking until a human soul that was rapidly 
departing from its earthly habitation has 
been persuaded to reanimate, as it were, 
the body, and turn confusion into orderly 
and healthy operation. True healers and 
true physicians are true scientists, and to 
be a true scientist involves thorough knowl- 
edge, not only of physiology, (physical 
facts and agents) but also of the mind 
(mental facts and force). He should also 
have a true knowledge of the law (God) 
that governs them. This constitutes the 
real physician, scientist, healer and true 
christian. 

Narrow minded, prejudiced individuals 
are poor specimens of humanity for the 
advancement of human knowledge in re- 
gard to Selfj or any science. It is true 



n 




'•XT' '^'C^'' V '"^D^ 

The Immanence of God 241 

that division of labor and different views 
by learned men are essential to the world's 
progress. It is right for some to work with 
microscope and surgical instruments and 
other means of physical investigation, and 
it is just as right for others equally intelli- 
gent, equally earnest, equally honest, 
equally enthusiastic, to pursue the investi- 
gation of the more abstruse subjects in nat- 
ural phenomena, and study scientijScally 
the human mind or mental forces and their 
physical expression. But it is not right, 
or just, to the people for any class of labor- 
ers to ignore the work of others ; for then 
the whole truth will not be known and man- 
kind will not have the benefit of it and es- 
cape from the ravages of disease, or a pre- 
mature grave, until the rivalries between 
men pass away and each class realizes, in 
theory and practice, the unity of God's 
creation and usefulness of both forces, 
mental and physical. 

The scientist and regular practitioner, to 
be sufficiently qualified and competent to 
prevent and cure disease, should master the 














Know Thyself' 



science of Self, and learn of the Power 
within as well as medicine and physiology, 
so that he will be able to employ either 
force that the patient under his care may 
require, to effect a full and complete recov- 
ery. We could then look with confidence 
and hope for the diminution, in time to 
come, of the sickness and suffering which 
is the common heritage of those of the hu- 
man race who fail to obey the words of 
*^The Master Jesus,'' ^^Know Thyself,'' 
*^ Control Thyself." 

EXPECTANCY AND ATTENTION,- 
*^ FAITH." 

The physiological effect of drugs is not 
always according to their known, or proved, 
properties, but according to the anticipa- 
tion or expectation of the patient. Every 
medical man knows from his own practice 
that if a patient is given a decided sug- 
gestion or receives an impression, that is, 
has faith, that a fictitious medicine he is 
about to take will act in a certain way, mar- 
velously good results sometimes follow; 



< 

c 

^ 



The Immanence of God 



243 



as in the administering of substances such 
as bread pills or sweetened water. Every 
manufacturing chemist makes blank pills. 
A great many people are under the impres- 
sion that pills always act as a laxative, and 
if given bread, or even an astringent in 
pill form, an operation of the bowels will 
follow. 

The plan of substituting something for a 
narcotic mixture, without which a nervous 
patient thinks himself unable to sleep, is, 
as we all know, continually resorted to, and 
is an instance of the beneficial employment 
of the imagination (faith) and the effect of 
expectancy upon the patient. This also il- 
tustrates what great influence and power 
the mind has over the organs and func- 
tional duties of the body, causing unusual 
and extraordinary physiological effects and 
conditions, as illustrated in the following 
instance. 

A lady who, while sitting upon the up- 
per deck of the steamer City of Mackinac, 
when crossing Lake St. Clair, became so 
badly frightened by the grating of the pad- 














244 



''Know Thyself' 



die wheel over a sunken crib that she gave 
vent to a series of screams, and begged for 
some one to save her. This was the first 
time in six years that she had uttered a 
word, influenza having partially paralyzed 
her vocal organs, medical science having 
failed to cure her. 

Since this occurrence, however, she has 
recovered her full powers of speech. Most 
every one, especially physicians, know of 
some particular instance illustrative of the 
effect of the mind upon the body (which al- 
ways responds and registers mental im- 
pressions and psychological conditions) 
such as the case of a physician, who was 
about to administer chloroform to a hys- 
terical woman who was to be operated on 
for the removal of two tumors, discovered 
that the chloroform vial was empty, and 
that the inhaling bag was entirely free from 
the odor of the anaesthetic. While waiting 
for the return of the person sent to the 
drug store for a new supply, he thought 
that in order to familiarize the patient with 
the process he would place the inhaling bag 






The Immanence of God 



over her mouth and nose. He did so, and in- 
structed her to breathe quietly and deeply. 
After taking a number of deep inspirations 
she suddenly cried out, ^ ^ Oh ! I feel the ef- 
fects of it already, I am going ; ' ' and a mo- 
ment later her eyeballs turned upward, 
and she became completely unconscious. 
As she was found to be perfectly insensible 
to pain, the physician suggested that the 
surgeon proceed with the operation. He 
did so, and removed one tumor without 
disturbing her in the least. 

When about to begin operations for re- 
moving the remaining one, she partly came 
to. The inhaling bag was once more ap- 
plied with the Suggestion that she was go- 
ing again, when the patient immediately 
lost consciousness and the operation was 
performed successfully without pain or 
knowledge to the patient. This woman, it is 
said, had taken chloroform three years be- 
fore. Eecollection of her previous experi- 
ence combined with expectation (faith) and 
the application of the inhaling bag, were 
fcufficient to cause her to self-induce. Pre- 



^^: 















''Knoiv Tliyself 



ciselv the same psychological condition that 
a liberal application of the anaesthetic 
would have produced. 

Any person, who has ever given any at- 
tention to the subject will acknowledge 
what immense power the mind or mental 
forces— acting in conjunction with or apart 
from the will— has over the physical body. 
This power of mind over matter is exer- 
cised both in health and disease, but is par- 
ticularly evident— perhaps because more 
closely observed— in the latter condition. 
It is a fact well known to seamen, that suf- 
ferers from seasickness almost invariably 
become quite well in moments of great 
danger, when the ship is found to be im- 
periled. People will often lose all sense of 
pain by their mind becoming occupied with 
some affair of great interest. It is a well 
established fact that alteration of tissue, 
irregularities and functional disturbances 
have been the direct result of a morbid con- 
centration of mind or attention to certain 
particular organic structures. Idleness is 
a well known factor in producing all kinds 




The Immanence of God 



of ailments, real and imaginary, of mind 
and body; perhaps because the idle man, 
from a sheer lack of interest in life, de- 
votes too much attention to his own or- 
ganism. Imagination (faith) combined with 
the ^^ direction of morbid self-conscious- 
ness'' to certain organs or functions of the 
body will produce results which have been 
noticed by many pathologists. In hypo- 
chondriasis, the patient, by fixing his at- 
tention on his internal organs, creates not 
merely disordered sensations, but disor- 
dered and abnormal action in them. 

With some people there is liable to be ir- 
regular action of the heart. This is brought 
on and greatly increased by the persistence 
of attention, causing deviation from the 
normal conditions of the functions and 
which frequently lapses into structural dis- 
ease from the effect of this faculty of mor- 
bid attention (faith swung in the wrong di- 
rection) being for a lengthened period con- 
centrated upon this organ and its action. 
Hypochondriasis, or a mental condition in 
which the patient feels and notices the ac- 


















Know Thyself' 



tion of his internal organs, and is always 
morbidly conscience of them, and believes 
himself bad off, has a decided tendency to 
grow worse, because his morbid attention 
becomes more and more concentrated and 
fixed or directed npon functions which 
ought to be performed automatically and 
unconsciously, and unless some powerful 
mental regulator or mental stimulant, such 
as faith in himself to overcome the condi- 
tion, is applied, organic disease actually 
sets in. 

That the dangers of these perverted or 
morbid mental conditions are brought with- 
in the range, not only of possibility, but of 
probability and actual fact, is indisputable, 
as there are many people of both sexes 
who never hear of a disease without fancy- 
ing that they have it, and by pure imagina- 
tion (faith-belief) develop the symptoms 
of serious illness. 

The illness of some prominent statesman 
or distinguished person, the progress of 
which is daily recorded in the papers, will 
sometimes become almost epidemic, and 



^p^« 




The Immanence of God 



specialists of the particular disease could 
give some interesting information on the 
increase of imaginary and real symptoms 
and affections during the illness of such 
prominent person. That fear and expect- 
ancy (belief) is conducive to and will at- 
tract disease has been abundantly proved 
during epidemics of typhoid, smallpox, 
cholera, yellow fever and other contagious 
diseases. Laymen who dabble in medical 
science, and students at the beginning of 
their course, are apt to imagine they have 
one or another of the diseases which they 
have been studying— heart complaint be- 
ing perhaps the most common; and of this 
disease many do frequently develop some 
of the subjective symptoms. ^ 

A prominent physician's wife, who was 
an eye-witness to an operation made upon 
a woman for the removal of a cancer, 
shortly afterward complained of symptoms 
of cancer. Her husband paid slight atten- 
tion to her complaints at first, but later the 
symptoms became so pronounced he called 
a specialist for diagnosis, and it was then 



mmntrrw^'V^^r 



/C^^^XSoo^Si^SS^ 





^^ 












Know Thyself" 



discovered that she was actually suffering 
from a cancer, whose location was precisely 
the same as that of the woman whose opera- 
tion she had witnessed. Further investiga- 
tion proved that the sight of the cancer and 
attendant operation had made such a de- 
cided impression upon the woman's mind 
that she had never been able to drive the 
sight of it from her imagination ; she being 
always apprehensive (believing) that she 
would become aflSicted in the same manner. 
There is little doubt but that this morbid 
condition of mind upon her part did actu- 
ally cause her to become infected with the 
same disease. 

Faith and belief in yourself for health at- 
tracts health. Faith and belief, fear and 
expectancy, that you will get a disease or 
take a disease, attracts disease to you, and 
makes your system susceptible to it. 

Very few know that the following means 
this very thing: ^^That which I feared has 
come upon me, and that which I was afraid 
of has come unto me." In other words, 
that if you believe that a thing will at- 
tack or harm you, you attract it to you. 



! 



1 

c 



c 

N ■ 



The Immanence of God 



251 



Expectancy (belief) that you will get a 
disease means that you fear it, and that 
that which you are afraid of will come unto 
you. If you have faith in yourself, that 
you ivill not take a disease, this faith, if it 
is literal and profound, will protect you 
against disease, making you an immune to 
it, and keep your body healthy. 

Hereditary disease finds its only rational 
explanation in the morbid perverted mental 
condition which ever shadows the child who 
is a victim of morbid self-consciousness 
that it must necessarily, as the result of na- 
ture 's decree, inherit its parent's affliction 
and die an unnatural and premature death. 
This is a nonsensical and absurb idea, fur- 
thered and fostered by ignorance of what 
that mental condition of mind, which na- 
ture requires to be maintained by every hu- 
man being, should be in order to promote 
health and strength in the physical body. 
This mental perversion (fear of disease) 
invites and develops disease, and also 
greatly aggravates and prolongs disease 
actually existing. If you fear a dog he 


















ri' 




- 








252 


''Know Thyself' 


ii 



e:^ 



will attack you. So will disease, unless you 
^ are positively not afraid of it and have 

^ faith and belief in yourself to ward it off. 

j] During the past year there has been quite 

a controversy in the papers about whether 
Hydrophobia is or is not the direct result 
M of a dog bite. It is a fact well known that 

(x^ insane persons and idiots have been bitten 

rr by dogs, but there is no case where they 

jL developed symptoms of Hydrophobia. 

The writer himself has been bitten re- 
peatedly by dogs and has no fear whatso- 
ever of Hydrophobia. That the profound 
belief, that is prevalent in this country, that 
persons who are bitten by a dog will go 
mad, has a great deal to do with the per- 
son who has been bitten developing Hydro- 
phobia, there is no denial. 

Should you be bitten by a dog, get con- 
trol of your mind and have absolute faith 
that you will not go mad. Don't dwell on 
the fact that you necessarily will or must go 
mad. 

There is no question whatsoever but that 
** faith" in himself to overcome the poison 






The Immanence of God 253 



rrr 

I 



-'J 



of a snake bite, and self-control, made Paul 
an immune and prevented him from becom- 
ing infected when the viper bit him. 

^^And when Paul had gathered a bundle 
of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there 
came a viper out of the heat, and fastened 
on his hand. ' ' 

^^And when the barbarians saw the ven- 
omous beast hang on his hand, they said 
among themselves, no doubt, this man is jL^^J, 
a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped ^ 

the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to 
live." 

^^ And he shook off the beast into the fire, 
and felt no harm.'' 

^^Howbeit they looked when he should 
have swollen, or fallen down dead sud- 
denly; but after they had looked a great 
while, and saw no harm come to him, they 
changed their minds, and said that he was a 
God. "-Acts 28-3-4-5-6. 

Fear and expectancy, (perverted mental 
conditions— a bad brand of faith), invite 
and promote disease, while confidence, faith 
and firm inward belief, (a positive mental 

















''Know Thyself' 



attitude— the proper brand of faith), in 
one's ability to ward it off, is a defense 
against its advance, and renders one im- 
mune against the most contagious diseases 
known. 

It only requires a superficial knowledge of 
electricity to understand the absolute abor- 
tiveness of various electrical apparatus and 
appliances as remedial agencies; yet, 
whilst positively inert, they are undoubt- 
edly the means of accomplishing much good 
by reason of the suggestive effect upon the 
imagination of the wearer and to arouse his 
dying faith. 

Cholera-belts, camphor-bags and divers 
so-called ^^preventives" such as carrying a 
potato, buckeye, etc., in one's pocket, un- 
questionably act in a corresponding man- 
ner. 

Consequently, though these and similar 
contrivances are inoperative in their antici- 
pated results, it would be a mistake to say 
they do not serve a useful purpose and are 
not beneficial to the uninitiated. By inspir- 
ing confidence and keeping alive hope, they 



I 



n: 




The Immanence of God 255 

often enable people to go unharmed in the 
midst of contagion, or help them to over- 
come disease, for there is no more effectual 
depressant, no surer harbinger of disease, 
than fear and expectancy. Much of the im- 
munity from infection enjoyed by physi- 
cians and professional nurses is due partly 
to the preoccupation of their minds with 
professional duties, which leaves no room 
for selfish terror or fear, and partly to the 
confidence (belief and faith) in themselves 
to ward off disease, begotten by long famil- 
iarity with the sick room and disease. 

Expectant attention (mental conditions 
and processes) is a mighty and wonderful 
force. The extent of its power and influ- 
ence upon our physical and moral nature, 
for health, for disease, for good or for 
evil, is beyond the comprehension of any 
person who has not been a close student of 
the mentality of man, or the nature and 
possibilities of God (Self). 

This knowledge enables one to gain per- 
ception and possession of the great funda- 
mental principle— ^^ The Principle of 
Being,'' ^^The God Within You." 



>^^4;^^^^^^lj^c 



CHAPTER XI. 

^^ FAITH," THE ESSENTIAL. 

It certainly must be evident to everyone, 
only those who belong to that prejudicative 
class who do not believe in the ^'Imman- 
ence of God," that ''Faith" and "Belief" 
do cure, do assist one in retaining health. 
That God or Jehovah is Immanent and In- 
herent to all mankind is true. That God is 
ever within man and non-transient is a 
positive fact. 

That this is what the Sublime and Il- 
lustrious "Master Jesus" taught none will 
deny unless their prejudicialness is kept 
alive, either by ignorance or mercenariness. 

"The Master Jesus" taught men and 
women to believe in themselves (God) and 
to control themselves. Misguided human- 
ity, being led by the blind, prefer to believe 
in anything but themselves. Of course, as 
has been shown, faith in anything does heal 

256 




The Immanence of God 



257 



and help people. It is their ^ ^ faith, ^' not 
faith in themselves (God) which they 
should have, but ^^faith" in Saints, Chris- 
tian Science, Healers, Voodoos, Mysticism, 
bones, potatoes, nails, wood, *^ faith'' in 
compounds, pills, narcotics, and nauseous 
mixtures. The object or article does not 
matter so much ; the essential thing is their 
* * faith, ' ' that it will cure them. He who has 
^^ faith'' unfaltering and courageous in 
himself (God) becomes a Potentate who 
wi.ll possess great and sovereign powers 
over disease and adversity. How much bet- 
ter he will be, how much more a true Dis- 
ciple of ^*The Master Jesus" will he be- 
come than the one who puts his faith in in- 
operative material things and superstitious 
beliefs. The prerequisite is faith in Self 
(God), but faith in stones, voodoos, and all 
such like things is only for the novice and 
superstitious, and consequently can only be 
operative with them. 

Faith in divers things implies great cre- 
dulity, and of course, they who pin their 
faith in them are helped ; for according to 
their faith, be it unto them. 




258 



'Know Thyself' 



The true teachings of ^^The Master 
Jesus" when understood, will shatter peo- 
ple's faith in these things, for it shows men 
and women the falsity of it all. The faith 
of the Ancients will not do for today. The 
faith of men who have lived and died long 
ago will not be tolerated today. Things 
that people believed in fifty or a hundred 
years ago will not suffice today. People are 
fast losing faith in saints, priests, relics 
and compounds. The witch-doctor only 
appeals to the superstitious of today. 

People put their belief and faith in more 
up-to-date remedies, but many are losing 
faith even in them, and the mixtures and 
remedies of today will be little used fifty 
years hence. 

Still, many say faith is impotent and 
only for the unlearned; but the truth is 
that it is men and women's Savior and their 
only salvation, and those who deride it as 
an illusion know very little about what they 
are talking about. 

No man or woman is without faith in 
something or somebody, for they believe in 





The Immanence of God 259 

objects or people, instead of themselves, ac- 
cording to their knowledge or belief in 
them. The ignorant and superstitious, who 
pin their faith and belief in the efficiency 
of some shrine or relic are quite as wise and 
IV ell off as those who believe they can find 
health in some compound or electrical ap- 
pliance. Some scoff and deride the faith 
of their more ignorant brothers while they 
believe they can find health and vitality in 
tonics, or pills. 

**Know Thyself." Become intelligent 
and learned regarding the God within you 
and you will soon have your faith in other 
things destroyed. Those who do not 
^^Know Themselves" are constantly shift- 
ing their faith from one creed to another, 
from one relic or object to another. Ulti- 
mately men and women will know them- 
selves and faith will no longer be placed in 
creeds, science and things in the material 
world. It will be placed in themselves. 
*'To him that believeth (in himself-— God) 
all things are possible." 

People have faith enough, and if they 



'TH 



:— r-ri' 





n 



'TTKJT^.- 






260 



''Know Thyself 



would only use it intelligently, it would be- 
come their most valuable asset, the greatest 
blessing of their whole life. Misguided hu- 
manity have great faith in various objects 
and divers remedies, but very little or none 
in themselves (God). 

It is truth's mission to gradually teach 
each man and woman to know themselves, 
to destroy their faith in useless things and 
inoperative objects, that they may be 
brought at last to have ^^ Faith'' in 
themselves. To believe in the infinite 
power (God) within themselves for this 
is the true elixir of life and the only 
rational poiver tvhich can sustain them. 

The Hindu worshipping his idol, the 
French peasant who has faith in the effi- 
ciency of a relic, the practice of the ^^ Whirl- 
ing Dervishes ' ' who bring their sick infants 
to be cured by the chief walking over their 
bodies. The many practices of propitiat- 
ing the Gods in vogue in Oriental countries 
are only different kinds of faith, of differ- 
ent people. 

The Chinaman has many beliefs regard- 




The Immanence of God 



ing his Joss Stick. The beliefs that the 
common people have in medicine and the 
church are quite as inexplicable as the be- 
lief of the Oriental woman, who believes 
she will give birth to a son instead of a 
daughter if she writes her request on a 
piece of paper, and after keeping it in her 
mouth for a certain length of time, throws 
it at an image. However, to be fair to these 
superstitious, misguided souls, their prac- 
tices are no more strange and inexplicable 
than the Italian Marquise who ascends the 
Scala Santa on her knees or burns candles 
before an image; or that intelligent men 
and women of today should have faith in a 
prescription, believing that it will cure 
mental ailments or remove the effects of 
dissipation. 

Faith is natural. Peoptfe must have faith 
in something. Faith must be kept active, 
and many times works blindly and igno- 
rantly. It is like a creeping vine, if it can- 
not climb a tree it will run along a rail 
fence or climb up a corn stalk. Faith is 
the real cause of the cure when it is put in 



>j — ^r--V' 




262 ''Know Thyself' 

relics and voodoos. It is also the sole 
and active agent that assists medicine ; not- 
withstanding the fact that tradition and 
custom cause many to think otherwise. 

Many medical men know that suggestion 
is becoming a mighty factor in modern 
treatment. Faith is the true Elixir, the 
Magic Wand and the mighty lever of life 
and health. None are without it. Without 
it you can do nothing. To him that believ- 
eth all things are possible. Faith in the 
physician, faith in his methods, faith in 
his prescriptions and medicine is the secret 
of his success. 

Put the faith the people have in doctors 
and medicine on the balance against all the 
pharmacopoeias in the universe, all the edi- 
tions from Discorides to the latest Edition 
of the United States Dispensatory, and 
faith will overbalance. 

Faith, Suggestion, and confidence is the 
Aurum Potable, the fulcrum of medicines 
success. Galen said, ' ' Confidence and hope 
do more good than physics;" ''He cures 
most in whom most are confident/' 



The Immanence of God 263 

The world overlooks the fact that many 
cures are made by faith, and because it has 
not been generally known to be so, mem- 
bers of the medical profession have become 
conceited and inclined to overestimate their 
real worth. That they are very sensitive 
on the fact of their not having a monopoly 
on curing disease, and that medicine and 
compounds are not the only panacea, is 
shown by their vigorous protests against 
any means of curing besides that employed 
by the regular practitioner. However, 
faith never falters, never fails him who 
knows how to utilize it properly. Faith in 
doctors cure some, faith in pills helps an- 
other. Faith in Christian Science puts still 
another on his feet, and he goes his way re- 
joicing. 

In all ages of the world faith in prayers 
and saints have healed the sufferer. The 
faith and belief of the Supplicant is the es- 
sential thing, the God or powers to which 
the prayers are addressed are of no con- 
sequence, have no existence only in the 
imagination of the applicant. When we 













Know Thyself' 



have faith in ourselves, some article or 
medicine, thought becomes an active force, 
potent, creative and constructive. Faith, 
or a mental attitude of hope, confidence, be- 
lief and expectancy becomes a very ade- 
quate and efficacious power and help for the 
advancement of man's physical and mental 
well-being. What good would be obtained, 
what great benefit would come if people had 
the faith in themselves that they have in 
objects, medicine and inoperative matter. 
People place their confidence and faith in 
inert matter. Faith in the shell and 
shadow rather than in the substance (God 
within you) is what rules the day. 

Men trust in remedies, in the unseen and 
the unknown, in hobbies, in theories, in 
scientists, in healers, in hypnotism, in medi- 
cine, in banks, in quackery and grafters, in 
sun-baths, but not in themselves (God). 

Those who do trust and believe in them- 
selves (God) have found that which fails 
them not. 

What is the use in scoffing and deriding 
''faith cures" since no cure is made with- 



'c^'^ 






The Immanence of God 



out the assistance of the patient's faith? 
Without faith nothing is accomplished. 
Men need more faith in themselves, need 
to cultivate the Primary Will and develop 
self-confidence. A deep, wise, everlasting, 
eternal faith such as reason may tolerate, 
cultivate and support, but not a faith based 
on credulity and superstition. Faith in the 
real, enduring powers of self instead of 
transit remedies, fads and fancies. True 
and lasting faith in self is what is needed. 

Intelligence of self will establish this 
kind of a faith. Its advent will be a bless- 
ing to tottering, weak and misguided hu- 
manity. To this end taught ^^The Master 
Jesus. '^ Theological Dogmas and super- 
stition wither men and women's faith in 
self. Theology, religion and shadow will 
never teach the lesson ^^Know Thyself," 
never satisfy the soul which seeks the truth. 
Medicine is also inadequate. Men's faith 
in material things and unknown Gods is 
being shattered. The shattered idols are 
falling. 

Let the churches, the physicians, and 












> 



nii 



266 ''Know Thyself' 

those who have pretended so much while 
hiding beneath the cloak of conservatism, 
know that it is the inadequacy and total in- 
efficiency of their own creeds, dogmas and 
practices that is causing sensible men and 
women to shake off the yoke of supersti- 
tion and quackery. Many there are, whom 
the doctor and high-priced specialist fails 
to cure. Large is the number for which 
the preacher, with his robes and creed, has 
no inspiration. 

The ministers and the church are their 
own greatest enemy. Medicine, humbug 
and quackery has brought its own down- 
fall. Ministers cannot save men; men 
must save themselves. The physician can- 
not save mankind from disease, for he does 
not know how to protect himself from it. 
Men and women must learn how to defend 
themselves against disease. Physicians 
must suggest self-help to their patients. 
Should teach them to believe in themselves. 

The true church and minister will teach 
men and women to ^^Know Themselves,'* 
to control themselves and seek the King- 



i€^^ 



Tl 




m^^^^ 



The Immanence of God 267 

dom of God within them. The wisdom of 
the masses is foolish. Philosophy, reli- 
gion and science have made it such. Men 
have been taught to put their faith in 
creeds, ministers, saints, unknown Gods 
and compounds, pills and divers remedies. 

Some may say that the teachings here 
are without ground. The teachings here 
are the true and original teachings of ^^The 
Master Jesus/^ The true teachings of 
^^The Master Jesus" place man and wom- 
en on a bed-rock which protects them from 
the quicksands of Dogma, superstition and 
quackery. 

The intuition of conservative and unprej- 
udiced men and women will tell them that 
this is true. Men and women are fast 
learning to have faith in those powers with- 
in themselves, which have become obscured 
and inactive, by the mists of greed, super- 
stition and ignorance. 

Many know that the remedies and appli- 
ances thej^ sell have no virtue, but that it 
is the faith the people have in them, acting 
as the vehicle of inward powers that is the 



w 



'^i 





IT' 



268 



''Know Thyself 



real healing force. They know that if they 
can get people to believe in what they have 
to sell, their nest is feathered. The power 
and force that heals is Immanent and Ab- 
solute, it abides not alone in the profes- 
sional healer and any given remedy but 
transcends all. 

Men and women, because they have al- 
lowed themselves to be led by the blind 
have temporarily ^^lost" the word of '^The 
Master Jesus" and become confused re- 
garding the possibilities of their inward 
powers (God). Their faith has become 
identified with outward things. 

Faith in self (God) is man's most eiffi- 
cient instrument, and brings to his rescue 
the healing and regenerative powers of 
God (Self). He who becomes receptive to 
his Powers by having faith in himself 
will then possess the best remedial agent 
for vitalizing his body, keeping it healthy 
and warding off disease. He will not need 
any electric belt, nor treatment by the 
Christian Scientist. Constant belief and 
confidence in one's self can be secured by 
affirmation and faith in Self (God). 



'lITIMMl 



Wl 



c:^ w 




The Immanence of God 

He who puts faith in himself and learns 
the bitter lesson of self-control will stand 
on a bed-rock protected against all uncer- c^ v\<o 
tainities and beckoning illusions. 




^^^ss^ 



PRECEDENT AND INDIVIDUALISM. 

Man's freedom and power must proceed 
from, and can only be experienced through 
his own individualism and belief in self 
(God). 

Precedent has gained such a stupendous 
hold upon the public mind that thousands 
never have an original thought or idea. ^ 

They seem content to follow the conven- ^ 

tional lines and beaten paths of the past, jj | f 
merging their own individuality into the ^^ — ^ 
teachings and doctrines of precedent and 
' superstition. This is indeed strange, since 
the only limit to the development of human 
knowledge and individualism is where it ^ f1 

reaches a condition which is injurious or 
detrimental to the individual rights of oth- 
ers. This custom is so decided and pro- 
nounced, especially in regard to the science 
and art of living and believing that those 



II 



270 ''Know Thyself'' 

who dare assert their own individuality, by 
an absence of conventionality, and who ven- 
ture to depart from the worn and beaten 
paths, and question the wisdom of the past 
and present methods of seeking God, of 
curing disease and promoting health, are 
instantly denounced as eccentric and their 
ideas viewed with prejudice. 

The author maintains, that conceded to 
each person is the individual right to choose 
and carry out his own ideas in the man- 
ner of living, so that he may avoid disease 
and promote a strong, healthy body. This 
right extends to every man the choice of 
his religion, dress, means of livelihood, 
theory or method of healing or curing dis- 
ease, and the advancement of any theory, 
method or idea so long as they bring bene- 
ficial results to his fellow-beings and do not 
intrude or infringe upon their rights. 
Every human being must learn by experi- 
ence a different lesson in the school of life. 
And every human being should feel grati- 
fied that this divine right has been be- 
stowed upon him, for the use of which he 
alone is responsible. 



The Immanence of God 



271 



As a man he should defend and respect 
this sacred right of individuality and be- 
lief in self (God), promote its expansion 
and follow its conscientious leadings and 
teachings, even if he is compelled to sacri- 
fice that despicable brand of popularity 
gained only by hypocritically surrendering 
his own ideas and individuality. If neces- 
sary, he should go even so far as to take 
issue with his friends, who, if genuine and 
claiming for themselves the right of indi- 
vidualism, will concede as much to him and 
respect him for his consistency, which is 
far more honorable than the assumption of 
hypocritical conventionality, for no per- 
son, only as a consequence of perverted 
thought, inherits a strait- jacket of church 
conventionalities, in which he must spend 
his earth life. 




o:^^ 





.^^ 



OQi 




^f^c 



BOOK OF NOTES 

{Book Two,) 

RESURRECTION OF JESUS FROM THE 
DEAD. 

Note 1. 

I propose to state a few problems that have 
arisen in my mind, in investigating for myself 
the Biblical history of the resurrection of Christ. 
I assume that the gospels of Matthew, Mark, 
Luke, and John, were written by known persons, 
whose names they bear, and that they were all 
eye-witnesses of facts recorded by each; that 
their written testimony has come down to us 
with absolute certainty of being in their own 
words, without interpolation, or alteration, or 
suppression. I assume a great deal. It might be 
difficult to substantiate all these points, which 
yet are absolutely necessary to prove the fact of 
Christ's resurrection. 

I propose to look at the recorded facts, so as 
to view the resurrection, not as a simple article 
of belief, but as a number of particulars. I wish 
to make my creed on this subject more mi- 
nute :— 

1st. Who came first to the sepulchre? 

Matthew says, Mary Magdalene and the other 
Mary. Mark says, Mary Magdalene and Mary 
the mother of James (the other Mary of 
Matthew), and Salome. Luke says, Mary Mag- 
dalene and Mary the mother of James, and Jo- 






anna and other women. John says, Mary Mag- 
dalene. 

Here I discover that none but John wrote 
from personal knowledge. He, who personally 
investigated this wonderful and central fact, 
says Mary Magdalene came, and told him and 
Peter. 

Well, who was first at the sepulchre ? 

I can't tell, I am sure. They all agree that 
Mary Magdalene was there, but differ as to the 
others. I do not think my first question can be 
positively answered. 

How would Mary Magdalene compare with 
certain persons who testify to modern miracles, 
as to moral character, sanity, general credibil- 
ity? 

She had once seven devils cast out of her; so 
once she must have been a very poor witness 
before a court of Jewish saints, the Pharisees — 
or if the actual devils were denied, she must 
have been quite deranged; in either case, she is 
a poor witness in such a momentous case, when 
compared with the moral and mental character 
of thousands who testify to certain strange facts 
they declare they have witnessed now-a-days, 
and who yet are utterly disbelieved, and char- 
itably pronounced insane. 

2nd. At what precise time did these women 
visit the sepulchre? 

Matthew says, *As it began to dawn.' Mark 
says, *Very early in the morning, at the rising 
of the sun;' in the Greek Anat^l antos tou 
heliou;' the sun having arisen. Luke says, 
* Very early in the morning.' John says, * Early, 
when it was yet dark.' 




Immanence of God 5 1 1 • 

Well, at what precise time did these women 
visit the sepulchre? 

Why, it was clearly very early in the morn- 
ing, while it was yet dark, after sunrise! 

I am afraid these witnesses, testifying to such 
a very wonderful and strange thing, if cross- 
questioned by our modern scribes and lawyers 
in our courts, would not precisely agree here. I 
fear the creeds would not be uniform. Sunrise 
and dark are not precisely the same to the eyes 
of sceptics of the nineteenth century. 

3rd. What did these women, or this woman 
see, when they came so early to the sepulchre, 
while it was yet dark, the sun being up ? 

Matthew says they saw an angel, whose rai- 
ment was white as snow, and whose countenance 
was like lightning, sitting upon the stone which 
he, the angel, had rolled away from the mouth 
of the sepulchre. Mark says, they saw within 
the sepulchre, a 'young man, sitting on the 
right side, clothed in a long white garment.' 
He mentions that the stone was 'very great.' 
Luke says, they found the stone rolled away 
from the sepulchre, and they entered in, and 
found not the body of the Lord Jesus. 'And it 
came to pass, as they were much perplexed 
thereabout, behold, two men stood beside them 
in shining garments.' 

John says:— 'Mary Magdalene came early, 
when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and 
seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. 
Then she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter, 
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and 
saith unto them, They have taken away the 
Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not 
where they have laid him. Peter therefore went 



6 




TrorU 



Booh of Notes 



forth, and that other disciple, and came to the 
sepulchre. So they both ran together; and the 
other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first 
to the sepulchre. And he, stooping down, and 
looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went 
he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following 
him, and went into the sepulchre and seeth the 
linen clothes lie; and the napkin that was about 
his head not lying with the linen clothes, but 
wrapped together in a place by itself. Then 
went in also that other disciple which came first 
to the sepulchre, and he saw and believed. For 
as yet they knew not the Scripture, that he must 
rise again from the dead. Then the disciples 
went away again unto their own home. But 
Mary stood without the sepulchre, weeping; 
and, as she wept, she stooped down and looked 
into the sepulchre, and seeth two angels in 
white, sitting, one at the head, and the other at 
the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.' 

Here we have the testimonies of the four wit- 
nesses. Let us imagine it occurred last week in 
New York City, and now, for the first time, 
spread before the learned and pious world. Let 
us try and imagine the rigid cross-examination 
they would be subjected to by the Church and 
learned Judge! What harmony would they de- 
mand! How microscopic the eyes which would 
scrutinize every item of the story ! 

The stone was *very large.* It is quite prob- 
able, then, these modern good men would argue, 
that it was not rolled into the sepulchre, but 
was quite conspicuous outside of it. Matthew 
asserts that the woman saw an angel sitting on 
this stone with a shining face and garments. 
Here a modern savant would ask if angels 






&^ 



Immanence of God 



(ethereal, mental abstractions and breaths) 
could roll heavy rocks that were real and no 
shadows, when he would sneer at the idea of 
angels having a part of the body necessary for 
sitting down ; in a word, that they have no basis 
for the rest of the body. For a given basis for a 
body and a face, you would not suppose it was all 
skin and surface, but would include lungs, and 
hearts, and stomachs, and livers, and bowels, and 
kidneys, and what not. A pretty story this of an 
angel sitting on a big rock ! I dare not say how 
foolish and insane these poor women would be 
thought to-day by our Churches and Academies 
of Science ! 

Matthew seems, then to assert one angel sit- 
ting on this very large rock out of the tomb. 

Mark says, they saw a young man sitting in 
the tomb on the right side, in a long white gar- 
ment. 

A young man sitting inside ! Not exactly the 
same as Matthew, I fear our modern sceptics 
would decidedly hint. Who was this young man 
in such a peculiar garment? Was it a man at 
all? Do you suppose it was the same person 
Matthew called an angel? And are angels men? 
Men are human bodies, and angels are shining, 
empty abstractions! 

Lnke says, two men stood there, inside, with 
shining garments. 

First, an angel sitting outside on the rock; 
next a young man sitting inside the tomb ; now 
two men, standing inside, with shining garments ! 
How would a pious Mattison, learned and yet 
unsophisticated doctors of Medicine at Buffalo; 
high priests, too, and rulers in our synagogues; 
how would they eurl their knowing lips at these 



8 Book of Notes 

trivialities, upon which was based the most stu- 
pendous fact the earth has witnessed! A mod- 
ern critical savant even now whispers in my ear, 
what kind of stuff I suppose their garments were 
made of; and who cut and made them up? 
* Clothes don't grow, you know, in any climes we 
know of. Clothes imply matter, tailors, washer- 
women, and soap; clothes-lines, clothes-presses, 
bureaus, and drawers, and needles, and other 
things that our s^Tiagogue and our institute know 
nothing about.' 

An angel sitting upon the rock. A young 
man sitting inside, in white clothes. Two men 
standing inside, in white also. 

John, who was an eye-witness, says Marj^ saw 
nobody and no body: that she ran and told 
Peter and John; that they ran; they saw the 
stone rolled away (did not see the angel sitting 
on it with his lightning-like face) ; went into 
the tomb one after the other: did not see the 
young man sitting there, nor the two men stand- 
ing there, both in conspicuous white dresses; 
they went home: and after they were gone, 
Mary, stooping down, and looking in. saw two 
angels sitting inside, one at the head, and the 
other at the feet, where the body had lain, and 
clothed in white. 

Not one angel sitting upon the rock: not one 
young man sitting inside ; not two men standing 
inside; but Mary saw nobody at first; neither 
did Peter nor John: but afterwards she saw 
two angels sitting inside. 

A modern law^-er would be willing to let this 
go to a jury without a word. *If one out of the 
twelve jur^^men would believe the physical resur- 
rection of a dead man upon such testimony as 




this, the other eleven wotild petition the court 
for a writ de lunatico inquirendo, and they would 
take care of the poor fellow in the Asylum. ' 

4th. What did the men or angels say? 

Matthew says, the angels told them not to 
fear, that Jesus was risen and not there ; that he 
would go before, and show himself unto his 
disciples in Galilee. 

Mark says the same thing. 

Luke says, the two men told them he was not 
there; that he had risen, as he had before told 
them, while in Galilee, it would happen to him. 

John says, that the two angels asked Mary 
why she wept? 

Let me ask again about this angel; this glit- 
tering phantasm; this intangible, shining ab- 
straction, sitting on the rock, so large and so 
solid, with his white garments made nowhere, 
out of moonshine, by nobody. 

A shrewd lawyer would point out that ac- 
cording to the first two witnesses, the disciples 
were commanded to go to Galilee, and that 
there Jesus promised to show himself unto 
them ; while Luke says they were commanded to 
* tarry in Jerusalem,' and that there alone, and 
in its close vicinity, he appeared to them; and 
that the fourth witness says the angels said 
nothing about this; *I am afraid your four wit- 
nesses will not command much credit with our 
modern authorities, who do not like to give full 
credence to persons who directly contradict 
each other.' 

*Go into Galilee: there shall ye see him.* 

* Tarry at Jerusalem,' there alone they saw 
him.' 

5th. When, where, and by whom was Jesus 
seen ? Matthew says, as the two Marys were go- 
ing to tell the disciples what they had seen and 













10 



Book of Notes 





n 






heard from the angel on the rock. ^Behold, 
Jesus met them, saying, All hail! And they 
came and held him by the feet, and worshipped 
him. Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid ; 
go, tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, 
and there they shall see me. Then the eleven 
disciples went away into Galilee, into a moun- 
tain where Jesus had appointed them. And 
when they saw him, they worshipped him; but 
some doubted.' 

Mark says, 'Jesus first appeared to Mary Mag- 
dalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. 
She went and told them that she had been with 
him, as they mourned and wept.' But they did 
not believe her. Afterwards, he appeared in 
another form unto two of them as they walked, 
and went into the country. And they went and 
told it unto the residue; neither believed they 
them. 

* Afterward, he appeared unto the eleven, as 
they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their 
unbelief and hardness of heart, because they be- 
lieved them not which had seen him after he 
was risen. And they said unto them, *Go ye 
into all the world, and preach the Gospel to 
every creature. He that believeth, and is bap-( 
tised, shall be saved; but he that believeth not 
shall be damned. And these signs shall follow 
them that believe: in my name they shall cast 
out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 
they shall take up serpents; and if they drink 
any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they 
shall lay their hands on the sick, and they shall 
recover. So, then, after the Lord had spoken 
unto them, he was received up into heaven, and 
sat on the right hand of God.' 




Immanence of God 11 

Luke has a different account. He says, the 
women * returned from the sepulchre, and told 
all these things unto the eleven, and to all the 
rest.' They had only seen and heard the two 
men, 'and their words seemed to them as idle 
tales, and they believed them not;' that Peter 
then saw and looked into the sepulchre, and saw 
nobody, and nothing but the grave clothes ; that 
Jesus appeared and walked with two of the dis- 
ciples that same day, on the road to a little vil- 
lage about three score furlongs from Jerusalem ; 
that he talked with them about these events, 
and that they did not recognize him: that— it 
being late, and near evening— they pressed him 
to tarry with them. 

*And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with 
them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, 
and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, 
and they knew him; and he vanished out of 
their sight.' That these two rose up the same 
hour of that Sunday, and 'returned to Jerusa- 
lem, and found the eleven gathered together, 
and them that were with them, saying, The 
Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to 
Simon. And they told what things were done 
in the way, and how he was known of them in 
the breaking of bread. And as they thus spake, 
Jesus stood in the midst of them, and saith unto 
them, Peace be unto you. But they were terri- 
fied and affrighted, and supposed that they had 
seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are 
ye troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your 
hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it 
is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit 
hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. 
And when he had thus spoken, he showed them 



'ife'ii 



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Book of Notes 



his hands and his feet. And while they yet be- 
lieved not for joy, and wondered, he said unto 
them, Have ye here any meat ? And they gave 
him a piece of broiled fish, and of a honeycomb. 
And he took it and did eat before them. ' That 
he then proceeded to expound the Scriptures to 
them as to their mission. 'But tarry ye in the 
city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with 
power from on high. And he led them out as 
far as Bethany : and he lifted up his hands, and 
blessed them. And it came to pass while he 
blessed them, he was parted from them, and 
carried up to heaven. ' That they then returned 
to Jerusalem. 

John says, Jesus first appeared to Mary Mag- 
dalene at the tomb itself; that she at first did 
not recognize him; but afterwards did, when he 
addressed her, bidding her not to touch him, but 
to go and tell his disciples that he would ascend 
to his Father and their Father— to his God and 
their God : that Mary Magdalene came and told 
his disciples these things: that when they were 
assembled that same evening, and the door was 
shut, 'Jesus came and stood in their midst, and 
said to them. Peace be unto you;' that he 
showed them his wounds, and that they were 
glad when they saw him; that Thomas doubted 
all these things; and that, being again together 
with closed doors, eight days after, he came 
again and stood in their midst, and convinced 
Thomas of his real existence; that he again ap- 
peared to his disciples at the sea of Tiberias, 
and conversed with them, and gave them bread 
and fish; and that this was the third time he 
appeared to his disciples after his resurrection 
from the dead. 



c^V^ 





Immanence of God 



Luke, or the unknown author of the Acts, 
states that Jesus did not ascend into heaven till 
after forty days from his resurrection ; and that 
he commanded them not to depart from Jerusa- 
lem till they had received the Holy Ghost. Ac- 
cording to Matthew, Jesus met the two Marys 
as they were going to tell his disciples. 

Mark says he appeared to Mary Magdalene 
first. Luke says he first appeared to Simon and 
another disciple, as they were walking to Em- 
maus. John says he first appeared to Mary 
Magdalene. Matthew, Mark, and John, nearly 
agree. Luke differs from them all. 

Now, as to time, and the circumstances when 
he met those who first saw him. 

Matthew says it was when the two Marys 
were running to tell his disciples. 

Mark says nothing of the circumstances, but 
that he afterwards appeared to two of his 
disciples as they walked; and after that to the 
eleven, when he was received up into heaven. 

Luke says the women came and told of seeing 
the tomb empty and the angels, but not that 
they saw Jesus; that he appeared that day first 
to the two disciples walking to Emmaus; next, 
that evening, to the eleven in Jerusalem, and 
that was all : for the same night he was received 
up into heaven. (See chap. 24, v. 13, 36—50.) 

John says it was by the tomb in the garden; 
next, that evening, to the disciples in Jerusalem ; 
next, about eight days after, to the same with 
Thomas; and fourthly, to them all by the sea 
of Tiberias. 

Luke, or the author of the Acts, says he was 
seen of his disciples for forty days before he was 
received up into heaven. 






J 





1 




14 Booh of Notes 

Paul, lastly, in 1st Cor. 15; 5, 6, 7, 8, says he 
was first seen of Peter or Cephas; next of the 
twelve (as Judas was gone, there were only the 
eleven) ; next of five hundred at once (of 
which wonderful thing there is nothing said by 
any one else) ; next of James (mentioned in the 
last * Gospel of the Hebrews') ; and finally of all 
the apostles; in all five times; and not having 
^^^ said of the appearance to the woman or Mary, 

which, added, makes six in all. 

Matthew says, to the women as they were go- 
ing to tell the disciples, and again to the eleven 
in Galilee. 

Mark says, to Mary Magdalene, to the two, 
and finally to the eleven at meat. 

Luke says, to the tw^o, then to the eleven ; and 
that, finally, he ascended to heaven the same 
night ; while he says in Acts he continued to be 
seen for forty days. 

John says, to Mary Magdalene; then, to the 
j I ; eleven in the city ; eight days after, to the same 

' -^ with Thomas; and fourthly and finally, to them 

all by the sea of Tiberias. Paul differs from 
them all, as to where he was seen by the disci- 
ples. Matthew makes it alone in the mountain 
in Galilee. Mark and Luke and John say that 
it was alone in Jerusalem and its immediate 
vicinity; except that John says that the third 
time he was seen by his disciples, was by the sea 
of Tiberias. 

Again as to what he did : 

According to Matthew, he went at once to 
Galilee, where he commanded his disciples to 
follow him. There he was seen by them, 
'though some' even of them 'doubted.' Nothing 
is said of aught else, or of his ascension. 



3( 


15 





Immanence of God 

Luke mentions his walking some distance, and 
conversing with his two disciples, though they 
did not know him ; that he vanished out of their 
sight just as their eyes were opened; that he 
suddenly came into their midst, and frightened 
them, as they supposed they saw a spirit or 
ghost; that he corrected their mistake by mak- 
ing them feel his flesh and bones ; and by eating 
real, substantial, not spiritual, broiled fish and 
honey-comb, and that the same night he as- 
cended into heaven. 

John says, he came into the midst of his dis- 
ciples when the door was shut; spoke to them 
audibly; showed them his wounds; appeared 
again, eight days after, to them, with Thomas, 
through the closed doors, and convinced them 
of his personal identity by the most tangible and 
sensuous proof; that he afterwards, at the sea 
of Tiberias, was seen on the shore by his dis- 
ciples ; spoke to them ; gave them fish and bread ; 
and finally, conversed for some time with Peter. 

6th. How long was he seen after his resurrec- 
tion? 

Matthew does not say; neither does Mark. 
Luke says he ascended to heaven on Sunday 
night. (See chap. 14, verses 13, 36, 49, 50, and 
51.) John does not say, but it was after eight 
days had passed. The author of Acts says, for 
forty days. 

7th. Where did the ascension into heaven 
finally take place? 

Matthew declares, in Galilee. Mark seems to 
point out Jerusalem. Luke declares it was at 
Bethany. John says nothing about it. The 
author of Acts says, from Mount Olivet. 
(Chap. 1, verses 4, 9, and 12.) No further re- 
marks are necessary. Draw your own conclusion. 











Booh of Notes 



ABSURDITIES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 

No. 2. 

It is the fashion when the absurdities of the 
Old Testament are pointed out, to say that the 
writers knew they were absurdities, and the Holy 
Spirit who dictated them, certainly did, but that 
they accommodated themselves to the ignorance 
of the times. Bolingbroke deals well with this 
trash. It is said, he writes, that the sacred 
authors writ agreeably to the vulgar notions of 
the ages and countries in which they lived, out 
of regard to their ignorance and to the gross 
conceptions of the people, as if these authors had 
not writ for all ages and for all countries, or as 
if truth and error were to be followed like fash- 
ion where they prevailed. This condescension 
then is very ill placed, and it would have become 
much better the great men we speak of, to have 
raised their fellow creatures up than to have let 
themselves down. Bolingbroke iii. 452. We 
have not even the grace to defend their fables, 
as the Pagans did, but take them all to the very- 
letter. Speaking of the statements respecting 
the Gods in Homer, Maximus Tyrius says, **For 
every one hearing such things as these concern- 
ing Jupiter and Apollo, Thetis and Vulcan, will 
immediately consider them as oracular asser- 
tions, in which the apparent is different from the 
latent meaning/' 

People listen to these falsities as they do to the 
ages of the Patriarchs, and the millions spent by 
Solomon, and they adopt them without thinking ; 
they perpetually resound from desk and pulpit, 
and the listeners are so ignorant that they know 
not what they hear; but take for granted that 




fe. 



Immanence of God 



17 



everything is true. Who has not heard over 
and over again that God predicted the disper- 
sion of the Jews, because of their crucifixion of 
Jesus. The learned editor of Mexican Antiqui- 
ties tells us very differently. The dispersion of 
the Jews, he says, is nowhere alluded to in the 
Old Testaynent as a judgment with which God 
threatened to visit that people on account of the 
crucifixion; those who may choose to maintain 
that it is, will do well to point out the passage 
in Scripture in which the allusion is contained. 
But if a nation has a right to be heard in its own 
defence, which the Jews certainly have, the argu- 
ment by which they attempt to prove that their 
present dispersion is not owing to the cause 
above referred to will be found to possess consid- 
erable weight with every unprejudiced mind, 
since arguing from the justice of God, they con- 
tend that he would not have punished a whole 
nation for a crime committed only by a few, and 
that even on the supposition that the whole na- 
tion were equally guilty of it, then their poster- 
ity eighteen hundred years after must be as in- 
nocent of it as were their forefathers eighteen 
hundred years before, possessing even an ad- 
vantage over them, in not being the progenitors 
of so evil a generation. In the same way the 
godly are constantly told by the interpreters of 
prophecy, that a day in the Old Testament means 
a year. Now, if all prophetic days are to be 
so construed, let us see into what absurdities 
we should be led. In Gen. vi. 3, God announces 
in the way of prediction that the days of men 
shall be 120 years before the flood comes upon 
them. The rule in question, i.e. one day for year 
would make a respite for the antediluvians of 



ilrTT^^r^ 



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t1 














43,200 years, so that their disregard to Noah's 
threats of a flood would be no very strange mat- 
ter. So in Gen. vii. 4, God declares that after 
seven nights he will cause it to rain upon the 
earth forty days and forty nights, and did any 
one ever dream of making this the same as say- 
ing that after seven years it shall begin to rain, 
and shall continue to do so forty consecutive 
years? Many other instances of like nature 
might easily be added. But if any one doubts 
still, let him interpret Dan. iv. 32, in accordance 
with the principle of a day for a year. Accord- 
ing to this Nebuchadnezzar must have been mad, 
and eaten grass for 2,520 years— discipline 
enough to humble a king even as insolent as he. 

PSEUDO-CHRISTIANITT. 

Note 3. 

The war years ago which desolated France, 
and paralyzed Germany, is perhaps the best com- 
ment on the overwhelming amount of crime that, 
in the nineteenth century, exists among civilized 
peoples, and in creeds that profess belief in 
Christianity. Never since the world began was 
there a more gigantic deed of guilt committed 
than, first, the declaration of war by the fallen 
Emperor, and second, its murderous continuance 
by the King even unto the bitter end, and after 
all had been gained. Butchery, rape, robbery, 
extermination by fire, hangings in cold blood— 
these awful scenes marked the path of Prussia; 
while the sacred name of God was ever invoked 
by her sovereign, as if He blessed the work of 
devils. France has perished by her own crimes : 
she gave herself up to her priests, who fostered 



c 




Immanence of God 



19 



her in ignorance and allowed her to wipe off her 
iniquities by masses and confessions, and holy 
relics, and all the trumpery of Satan. As fast 
as they were so wiped off they were renewed, and 
France, like Spain, was a hot-bed of iniquity. 
She sought the ruin of Prussia with cold-blooded 
cruelty, and accomplished her own instead. This 
was just; it was the Descent of Nemesis. But 
nothing can justify the bloody spirit of robbery 
and slaughter with which Prussia swept over 
France; nor has Paganism anything more ter- 
rible branded on her brow. The deductions to 
be drawn from these facts are— 1, that as on this 
earth guilt sometimes becomes its own self-pun- 
isher, so also it does in other spheres ; 2, that ret- 
ribution always attends it, and that there is no 
forgiveness and no escape; and 3, that men are 
no better under the Christian, or rather Petro- 
Paulite teaching, than they were in the worst 
days of savage barbarism, but are at least as bad, 
if not worse. What Judaism was in the days of 
Paul we learn from that writer ; it resembled the 
pseudo-Christianity of the present age. Behold, 
he says, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the 
law, and makest thy boast of God, And knowest 
his will, and approvest the things that are more 
excellent, being instructed out of the law; And 
art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the 
blind, a light of them which are in darkness. As 
instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, 
which hast the form of knowledge and of the 
truth in the law. Thou therefore which teachest 
another, teachest thou not thyselff thou that 
preachest a man shoidd not steal, dost thou steal? 
Thou that sayest a man shoidd not commit adult- 
ery, dost thou commit adidtery? thou that ab- 








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20 






Book of Notes 











horrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou 
that makest thy hoast of the law, through break- 
mg the law dishonourest thou God? For the 
name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles 
through you, as it is written. Komans ii. This 
cannot be better supplemented than by the fol- 
loT^dng which I cut out of a newspaper:-— Dr. 
Lankester began the proceedings in the section 
for the Repression of Crime by reading a paper 
on ^'Infanticide." He gave statistics, which 
showed that in London it prevailed to an enor- 
mous extent, A great majority of the mothers 
who gave birth to illegitimate childdren were 
domestic servants. Nine out of every ten of the 
children that were killed were destroyed within 
two hundred yards of the house in which they 
were born. It was also a startling fact that of 
the unfortunate mothers who murdered their 
considered that it was the most modest girls who 
destroyed their children. Sir E. Wilmot having 
offered a few observations, Dr. Mary Walker, of 
New York, spoke on the subject. She attributed 
much of the fault as due to the great desire to 
hide the fact. This arose in a great measure 
from the want of sympathy on the part of their 
own sex. One great thing would be accomplished 
when the man was regarded with as much scorn 
as the woman was now. There was not so much 
infanticide in the United States as there was in 
this kingdom— at least, she judged so from the 
accounts she had read. She accounted for this 
by the fact that in America they were more tem- 
perate. Her observation of immoral men and 
women was that the large majority of them were 
habitual drinkers. In America children were 
not looked upon as responsible for the acts of 



^ 



'*^ 




Immanence of God 21 

their parents, and the speaker quoted instances 
to prove that illegitimacy was no bar to social 
position or improvement of that position. 
Neither were children unduly respected because 
their parents happened to be very well to do. 
The Rev. Mr. Solly followed, urging the sugges- 
tion which had been made by the Secretary of 
the Association for Enforcing the Laws for the 
Protection of Women, that every act of seduc- 
tion should de facto be regarded as an act of 
marriage. Mr. Thomas Chambers, common Ser- 
jeant, strongly opposed the suggestion of Mr. 
Solly. It would be a premium to domestic serv- 
ants to entrap the sons of their masters. 

GOD AN ECONOMIST. 

Note 4. 

A learned man speaks as follows about God 
and the world. It is shewn that this earth is 
one of the Hells, and consequently that the suf- 
ferings which are endured upon it are not to 
be charged against God, but are the natural re- 
sult of man's own wickedness and bad govern- 
ment, it being a law that all Sin punishes itself. 
This truth at once gets rid of an objection to 
the benignity of God which has been raised from 
olden time, because He permits misery to exist. 
But if earth is made a place of misery by its own 
inhabitants, how could God make it otherwise 
unless he deprived them of their free will, and 
made them into slaves, puppets, or automatons? 
Besides, there must necessarily be places where 
Evil punishes itself by its own hands, and thus 
produces its own reformation. Will any one 
deny that this Earth might be made a scene of 














Book of Notes 



comparative happiness, peace, and plenty, if 
men only willed it, and laboured to make it so 
by subduing their evil propensities and passions? 
But men, as men, never try to do this, but give 
themselves up to a mad desire after gold, women, 
and power. Labours are good, says Pythagoras, 
but pleasures are in every respect bad. For, as 
we came into the present life for the purpose of 
punishment, it is necessary that we should be 
punished. lamblichus' Life of P., cap. 18. These 
observations will, I hope, meet and answer cer- 
tain passages in a new periodical called Free- 
light, in which God is represented as a Devil. 
One of the writers speaks thus:— I confess I see 
nothing to shake my opinion, either in the argu- 
ments of the more rational, though optimist of 
my antagonists, or of a '^Believer." I feel that 
I would have much rather not have come into 
life. God or no God, that is a feeling very com- 
mon to men. When we are wretched, we desire 
an end of misery ; when we are wretched only in 
prospective, still the coming shadow darkens 
life. I have no love to God— supposing a God 
exists. "Why should I have such ? I think a God 
exists, who is quite indifferent whether we suffer 
or not— perfectly indifferent to evil, I have 
often envied the Atheist. He looks forward to 
annihilation no doubt with complacency. I re- 
peat once more ^^ there is no such luck for us." 
God, as you call the Author of all things, is an 
economist, no doubt. I see no reason to believe 
that anything is destroyed. Hell, then, may be 
true— nay, it is true. This is Hell. The Author 
of Nature may not be exactly a Malignant Be- 
ing ; but to imagine for an instant that he cares 
about the amount of evil endured is silly. Christ 



found he had made a mistake, and at last asked 
in bitterness, **My God, my God! why hast thou 
forsaken me?'' The Theists are very angry 
with bigots because of the cruelty ascribed to 
God. I ask if there is not more cruelty in 
Nature than in Revelation ? The only difference 
is that the cruelty of God, as taught in theology 
is for ever. ***** Qq^j could not an- 
nihilate himself. I wish he could and would. I 
have not the slightest hope of man. We are 
radically bad— meant to be so. We are devils. 
We live in hell, and fancy we are sometimes 
happy? Never. Stretched on the rack of this 
''tough world,*' we ask the heavens to be **more 
just." Every man's faith is sure to fail sooner 
or later. I have heard clergymen complain bit- 
terly of God. The sheer Negationist sneers at 
anything. There is, however, a good deal of un- 
belief as to the truth of such unlimited belief 
among ** Infidels." One of your correspondents 
allows that God made alligators, tigers, &c. 
Well, then, those monstrous jaws were not 
formed for nothing. You would never persuade 
the victim of such horrible creatures that he 
ought to be glad to be sacrificed. Don't tell me 
of the benevolence of Nature! The system of 
things is atrocious. Ask any humane man if he 
could have found it in his heart to create a 
world so hideous. And I don't believe, for an 
instant, that it will ever be otherwise. I don't 
believe in Darwin's theory; I think the apes are 
less inclined to torture one another than we are. 
I don't see that with civilization we become 
humane. I firmly believe we shall exist for ever, 
no better off than we are at present. Yours, &c. 
A Sceptic." Again:-— ''Being a Pessimist, I 



24 Booh of Notes 

ask whether it is true that there is more good 
than evil in the world? I think not. I should 
like to know who can honestly say they are glad 
that they exist? Perhaps three; but I should 
be inclined to say, hardly two. I ask wwhether, 
granting the existence of a God, he is able to 
put an end to evil? If he is not, where is his 
omnipotence ? If he is able, and will not, where 
his benevolence? But if there be a Devil who 
can thwart his Maker, and if Godd had fore- 
knowledge, as theology asserts, why was he 
made? If it be true that hundreds of millions 
of years have elapsed since the earth began, how 
was it that it took such an enormous period to 
produce an insignificant result? Everything to 
me is a farce. After all, as we cannot prove 
either wisdom or benevolence in Nature, as there 
is no proof of a future life, what alternative is 
there but to make the best of the present. If we 
are sick of life, for my part, it seems to me there 
is no immortality in suicide. We never asked 
to come into being, and therefore it is obvious 
we have a right to cease to be. I perfectly agree 
with those who think there is no moral basis in 
Atheism. What then? I didn't form the world. 
The responsibility for whatever happens may be 
left to whatever Power or Cause created so 
wretched a failure. It is better to believe in no 
God than in a cruel, vindictive, and heartless 
Being who allows the evil to be so mighty, and 
the good so powerless. 

BIOGRAPHY OP SOME CHRISTIAN MEN. 

Note 5. 
Home, in his Introduction to the Scriptures, 
says: Lord Herbert, Hobbes, Lord Shaftesbury, 




Immanence of God 



Woolston, Tindal, Chubb, and Lord Boling- 
broke were all guilty of the vile hypocrisy 
of lying. The morals of Rochester and Whar- 
ton need no comment. Woolston was a gloss blas- 
phemer. Blount solicited his sister-in-law to 
marry him, and being refused shot himself. Tin- 
dal was originally a protestant, then turned 
papist, then protestant again, merely to suit the 
times, and was at the same time infamous for 
vice in general and the total want of principle. 
He is said to have died with this prayer in his 
mouth: *'If there is a God I desire that He may 
hav^e mercy on me.'' Morgan had no regard to 
truth, as is evident from the numerous falsifica- 
tions of Scripture as well as from the vile hypoc- 
risy of professing himself a Christian in those 
very writings in which he labours to destroy 
Christianity. Voltaire was a shameless adult- 
erer ; his total want of all principle, moral or re- 
ligious, his impudent audacity, his filthy sen- 
suality, his persecuting envy, his base adulation, 
his unwearied treachery, his tyranny, his cruelty, 
his profligacy, and his hypocrisy, will render him 
for ever the scorn of mankind. Rosseau, a thief, 
a liar, and a debauched profligate, who alter- 
nately professed and abjured the Roman Catho- 
lic and Protestant religions without believing 
either, and who died in the very act of uttering 
a notorious falsehood to his Creator, as well as 
Paine and other advocates of infidelity, are too 
notorious to render it necessary to pollute these 
pages with the detail of them. 10th ed., pp. 41-2. 
And as they have begun, so will these hirelings 
of the False Church continue to the end, the ma- 
lignant foes to all who teach. 



1 



'MT 















ORIGINAL RELIGION OP THE HEBREWS. 

Note 6. 

The religion of tlie Hebrews at first, after they 
had passed into Palistan, was the adoration of 
the Stars and other Spirits— Bal and all the host 
of heaven; later their philosophy became the 
worship of the Male and Female Principles 
taught by the Magi in all of the schools of the 
Semitic sages from Babylon to Egypt, from 
Greece to the extreme coasts of Arabia. They 
associated the Great Male Being, the Source of 
Light, Water, Heat, Animation, Fire, with a 
Goddess. The Sidonian Bol or Baal-Adon was 
united with the Queen of Heaven, to whom offer- 
ings were made by the Hebrews. Their name, 
according to the usage of those times, was that 
of the Shining God Abar, the shining Bar of the 
Assyrian bas-reliefs. Yea, says Esdras (2, xvi. 
62), and the Spirit of Almighty God which made 
all things. They also called him Baga, Bacchus, 
Eacus, lachos, lachoh, lahoh, Acush, or Zeus 
Acasios (Hycsos), and we have seen that in Job 
xxvii. 10, God and the Holy Spirit are called Sad- 
dai, or the Almighty Ones. Chalcidius, explain- 
ing the ancient Trinity, thus writes : This thing 
is to be conceived after this manner: that the 
First Original of things is the Supreme and In- 
effable God ; after his providence a Second God, 
the establisher of the law of life, both everlasting 
and temporary; and the Third, which is also a 
substance, is a certain keeper of this Law. Cud- 
worth hit. Syst. ii. 467. This is exactly the 
theory propounded by me. And I strongly ad- 
vise all lovers of truth to study Cudworth well ; 
his work will disperse a multitude of errors from 




the mind, which all our Christian priests seem to 
have •combined together to imprint upon it. 
There is also a passage in Isaiah xlviii. 15, 16, 
which doubtless contained in its original form a 
clear expression of the Triune (God, the Spirit, 
and the Divine Messenger), but which the rabbis 
have now utterly corrupted. I, even I, have 
spoken: yea I have called him: I have brought 
him, and he shall make his way prosperous. 
Come ye near unto me, hear ye this : I have not 
spoken in secret from the beginning [nor in a 
dark place of the earth, Septuagint and Ai^abic 
and Coptic MSS.] from the time that it was, 
there am I : and now the Lord God and his Spirit 
hath sent me. Clarke's note upon it is as fol- 
lows : And now the Lord Jehovah hath sent me, 
and his Spirit. Who is it that saith in Isaiah, 
And now the Lord hath sent me and his Spirit ? 
in which the expression is ambiguous: is it the 
Father and the Holy Spirit who have sent Jesus, 
or the Father who hath sent both the Anointed 
and the Holy Spirit? Origen Co7it. Cels.^ lib. i. 
I have kept to the order of the words in the orig- 
inal, on purpose that the ambiguity which Ori- 
gen remarks in the version of the Septuagint, 
and which is the same in the Hebrew, might re- 
main, and the sense which he gives to it be of- 
fered to the reader's judgment. If this passage 
be read with the context, it will be apparent that 
there has been a cutting and hashing here, to 
which that of Puff's unfortunate tragedy (in the 
Critic) can alone be likened; but even out of the 
fragments a glimpse of the reality may be 
caught. The Phiglensians worshipped Ceres 
(the Holy Spirit) with a Dove in one hand and a 
Dolphin in the other. Each was the symbol of a 













^H 














Book of Notes 



Messenger. The Dolphin came from Delphi, 
which meant the Womb. Faber, Pag. Idol. iii. 
90. The Welsh Druids called her Ceridwen- 
Wrach, which Davies translates Ceridwen the 
Fury : but Wraeh is the same as Ruach Aleim, or 
the Spirit of Aleim, and it really means Cerid- 
wen, the Holy Spirit. Hence they call her 
Rheen rym awry, Sovereign of the power of Air. 
The translation of Davies is proved to be absurd 
by the name which he subsequently admits that 
she was known by, namely, Lleddv Ogyrven, the 
Gentle Goddess, a name peculiarly appropriate 
to the Holy Spirit. Mythology, 316. In the 
composition of Irish words, Bhan, pronounced 
Vaun, implies a Woman, as Wen does in the 
Welsh. Hence Chr-Id-Wen, the Holy Woman of 
Id or God. Note in connection with this that 
temples to Zeus Phuxios (the Fugitive) are said 
to have been raised by Deu-Cali-On and his 
priests : this is a proof that he himself had fled : 
it shows also that he had the true Apocalypse, 
and knew of the flight of the Woman and the 
Man Child. She was hardly ever separated from 
God, as they believed. D 'Hancarville gives a cur- 
ious medal of the Bi-Une God, under the symbol 
of the Bull, with the heroic human face which an- 
cient sculptors gave to the Supreme : he bears on 
his back a Dove. Vol. 2, Plate xx., No. 3. The 
same plate contains a similar figure of God as the 
Bull with a man 's face : a beautiful winged Vir- 
gin flying aloft is crowning him with a wreath, 
while underneath appear Greek letters, signify- 
ing the Issa of the Apocalypse, also or the 
Pillar for God and Nak, for Sophia or Wis- 
dom, and Sao, the Greek Female name of the 
Saviour. The same symbolism appears in the 



temple of the Syrian goddess Astarte, who was 
precisely the same as the Cybele or Universal 
Mother of the Phrygians, whose attributes have 
been already explained, and may be found more 
regularly detailed in a speech of Mopsus in the 
Argonautics of Apollonius Rhodius. ^^She was," 
as Appian observes, *^by some called Juno, by 
others Venus, and by others held to be Nature or 
the Cause which produced the beginnings and 
seeds of things of Humidity;'^ so that she com- 
prehended in one personification both these God- 
desses, who were accordingly sometimes blended 
in one symbolical figure by the very ancient 
Greek artists. Her statue at Hierapolis was.vari- 
ously composed so as to signify many attributes 
like those of the Ephesian Diana, Berecynthian 
Mother, and others of the kind. It was placed in 
the interior part of the temple, accessible only to 
priests of the higher order, and near it was the 
statue of the corresponding Male personification 
called by the Greek writers Jupiter, which was 
borne by bulls as that of the Goddess was by lions 
—lions of the tribe of Jid. Between them was a 
third figure with a Golden Dove on its head, 
which the Syrians did not choose to explain or 
call by any name, but which some supposed to be 
Bacchus, others Deucalion, and others Semi- 
ramis. It must therefore, says a commentator 
upon this passage, have been an androgynous 
figure, and most probably signified the first-be- 
gotten Love or plastic Emanation which pro- 
ceeded from both and was consubstantial with 
both, whence he was called by the Persians, who 
seem to have adopted him from the Syrians, 
Mithras, signifying the Mediator. The doubt ex- 
pressed concerning the sex proves that the body 






O 

7 




^*^ 












of the figure was covered, a^: well as the features, 
effeminate; and it is peculiarly remarkable that 
such a figure as this, with a Golden Dove on its 
head, should have been ti^ken for Deucalion, of 
whom corresponding idoij must of course have 
been entertained; whence we are led to suspect 
that the fabulous histories of this personage are 
not derived from any vague traditions of the 
universal deluge, but from some symbolical com- 
position of the Plastic Spirit upon the waters, 
which was signified so many various ways in the 
emblematical language of ancient art. This 
figure, which our commentator, whose name I 
have forgotten, is so puzzled by, was a symbol of 
the Messenger, on whose head the Dove de- 
scended (John i. 32, 33, 34). If it was ever 
called Deucalion, it was simply Deu (a god), Call 
(the Holy Spirit), Aun (the sun), that is, the 
Sun-God of the Holy Spirit, which would convey 
two meanings to the Initiated: first, that it was 
an emblem of the Bi-Une, or Male-Female, the 
Sun-God and the Holy Spirit; secondly, the 
Solar Emanation or Messenger whom she sends 
forth. Deu-Kali-On, as I have already shown, 
was the leader of the Ao-Yudians out of India: 
he pretended to be a Messiah : hence the Dove or 
Holy Spirit is represented descending on his 
head. But Ash-tr-di, or the Fire-Crown of God, 
is the same as Olympian Juno, the Queen of 
Heaven, who is called in Hebrew , 

Baaleth samiam, and , Melechath 

hasmaim : both signifying her sovereignty in the 
celestial spheres. Tr, , is a turtle dove. 

This is the Dove which the first Christians were 
ordered to join with the Serpent [of Eternity]. 
In old paintings and medals the Serpent is fre- 




^ 



Immanence of God 



quently seen twining itself round the Tree of 
Life, from which it draws its nourishing food, 
and to which also it imparts some of its own ever- 
living and everlasting mysterious essence. This 
symbolism is alluded to in Stephanus. Et vocavit 
Adam nomen uxoris suoe, Heva: eo quod Mater 
esset cunctorum, viventium. Heva, Viva, vel 
Vivens. Hevaei viventes: aiit Syriace, ColubrL 
Stfph. on Gen. iii, 20: And Adam called the 
name of his wife Heva ; for this, that she was the 
Mother of all who live. Heva is the Alive, or 
the Living; Hevseans, the Existent; in the Syr- 
iac it means Serpents. To the same religious 
feeling may be traced the use of serpent-brace- 
lets. Clarke saw one which had been taken out 
of a tomb in Cimmerian Bosphorus. He calls it 
*'one of the most ancient specimens of art per- 
haps existing in the world." It was made of the 
purest massive gold, and weighed three-fourths . 
of a pound. It represented the body of a Ser- 
pent, curved into an elliptical form, with two 
heads (the Bi-Une) : these mec^'mg at opposite 
points formed an opening for the wrist or ankle. 
The serpent heads were studded with rubies, so 
as to imitate o^y^s, and to ornament the back part 
of each head by two distinct rows of gems. The 
rest of the bracelet was adorned with rude graved 
work. Travels ii. 72. The Tri-Une are ever sym- 
bolized by the Serpent (God), the Tree (the 
Holy Spirit), the Dove (the Messenger). The 
Holy Spirit is called by Martianus Capella : 
Ignoti vis summa Patris, atque prima propago, 
Fomes sensificus, mentis fons, lucis origo. 
The most perfect Energy and first emanation of 
the Unknown Father. 















\=^m^ 





■/A 



Book of Notes 



The fuel that causes sensation, the formation of 

thought, the source of light. 
The Thespeans, says Pausanias, venerated from 
the first, Love, beyond all the gods; and they 
have a most ancient statue of this Divinity, which 
is nothing more than a rude stone. I do not, how- 
ever, know who it was that instituted this high 
veneration of Love among thehe Thespeans. Pig- 
norius has given the print of a medal in which 
Eternity seated on a throne, and with a royal 
sceptre, holds in her right hand a Peacock with 
a nimbus round the head : this is the Holy Spirit 
and the Messiah. Mensa Isiaca. 
General Index, Peacock. 

ANCIENT GODS. 

Note 7. 

There are in every climate, says Bryant, some 
shattered fragments of original history, some 
traces of a primitive and universal language, and 
these may be observed in the names of Deities, 
terms of worship, titles of honour, which prevail 
among nations widely separated, and who for 
ages had no connection. The distinguishing 
marks of one faith are found in places the 
most remote from another, from the Ger- 
man forest to the Chinese temple. The Van- 
dals had a god called Triglaf: one of these 
was found at Herlungerberg, near Brandenburg: 
he was represented with three heads. Trium Deat, 
or Lord in Three, was worshipped in a most mag- 
nificent temple at Upsal, in Sweden. The Chin- 
ese Fohists have an idol which they call Sanpao 
—it consists of Three, and the Japanese counter- 
part of this has Three faces, and they call him 





Immanence of God 



the father of the sun, moon, and stars. This idol 
symbolizes God with his Messianic and Cabiric 
Messenger on his right and left. When desig- 
nated as Father of the Sun, Moon, and Stars, 
it alludes to God, the Centre, from whom pro- 
ceeds the Holy Spirit, Light (Gen. i. 3), typified 
by the Sun and Moon, and the Stars, who are his 
Seraphic Splendours. Indeed I cannot doubt, 
says Higgins, that there has been one grand 
empire, or one universal, one Pandaean, or 
one Catholic religion, with one language which 
has extended over the whole of the old world, 
uniting and governing at the same time Columbo 
in the island of Serendive and Columbo in the 
West of Scotland. This must have been Budd- 
hist, whether it ever really existed as one empire 
or was divided into different states. Anacalyp- 
siSy i. 44. Note that Vau-Han means Lord of the 
Six or Naros, Vau being the numerical character 
for 6, and the name itself being deeply sacred 
and mystical. Han also means the Sun. Colonel 
Symes gives the following account of a conversa- 
tion which passed between a Kayn and himself. 
We asked the man where he expected to go when 
he died? He replied that he should again be- 
come a child. Who will make you a child ? The 
Mourning, Who are the Mounzing ? The Father 
and Mother of the world. Embassy to Ava, iii. 
246. And Maurice speaks of the old Indian 
legend of the triple god, (1) Sree-Mun-Narrin, 

(2) the beautiful woman, Maha Lachsmi, and 

(3) a Serpent, that is, God, the Holy Spirit, and 
Life. Those, he says, are by the Hindus supposed 
to be wholly indivisible. The one in three, and 
the three are one. Ind, Antiq., iv. 750. So Hig- 
gins, in Anacalypsis ii. 14, writes as follows: 











34 Book of Notes 

The history of Tulis as given by Suidas is very 
remarkable. He says, Thulis reigned over all 
Egypt, and his empire extended even to the ocean 
(that is, it was a Pandean empire). He gave his 
name to one of its isles (Ultima Thule). Puffed 
up with success, he went to consult the oracle of 
Serapis, and after having offered his sacrifice, he 
addressed to him these words: Tell me, 
Master of Fire, the true, the happy in the high- 
est, who rulest the course of the stars; tell me 
if ever there was before, one greater than I, or 
will ever be one greater after me? The Oracle 
answered him in these words : First God, after- 
ward the Word, and with them the Holy Spirits 
all three are of the same nature, and make but 
one whole; of which the power is eternal.. Go 
away quickly. Mortal, thou who hast but an un- 
certain life! Going out from the temple he was 
put to death by his own countrymen. The sym- 
bolists imaged the Perfect All by the triple tri- 
angle conjoined within itself thus : 
It was also called Ugeia. 

JACOB~A DIVINER OR MAGICIAN. 

Note 8. 

That there is a wonderful and magical virtue 
in the mind or mental forces, and that this in- 
visible element can be projected as it were, from 
the body, when the powers of the soul are 
wrought by the focussing of the faculty of con- 
centration, is clearly proven by experience. It 
is fully demonstrated in the action of the 
psychic or mental forces from whence there are 
most potent procreations, famous impressions 
and, wonderful effects produced, which by many 



yr'^ocs^ 



Immanence of God 



35 



have been attributed to diverse superstitions, 
such as sorcery, enchantment and witchcraft. 

There is inherent in the human soul a certain 
magnetic virtue which is natural and proper, 
which acts in a very peculiar manner, i, e., mag- 
netically or spiritually in a person or an object 
at a remote distance and that more effectively 
and powerfully than by any corporal assistance ; 
for as the soul is the principal of the body, all 
action belonging to and coming from it is spirit- 
ual or magnetic, and of the greatest validity. 

This power of the Microcosmical spirit, which 
produces most potent procreations, is evidenced in 
pregnant women, who stamp upon their child the 
image and property of things intensely desired. 
This image or sign imprinted by the appetite or 
desire of a mother, or her young, does fitly, 
clearly and most certainly confirm a magnetic 
or attractive faculty, and its operation at a dis- 
tance, for let a woman great with child, in- 
tensely desire cherries or strawberries, but, 
touch her face or other part of the body with 
her fingers, and without doubt the child will be 
stamped in the same part of its body, with the 
sign or image of the fruit desired, which ever 
afterwards does each year wax green, white, 
yellow, and at the proper time according to the 
tenor of the trees, look red. This wonderfully 
expresses and confirms not only an OCCULT 
action at a distance, but also demonstrates a con- 
formity or agreement with the essence of the 
tree or plant,— a consanguinity or near affinity 
of a being or an object impressed into the body 
by an instantaneous action of the soul's natural 
faculty or Magnetism. 

These signs or images which are conceived and 














brought forth upon the child by the power of 
the Microeosmical spirit, whereby the mother 
transfers all the ideas of her conception on her 
young, depend upon two consequences, i. e,, that 
the spiritual principle, or essence (Occult vir- 
tue), of all things, which lie hidden and un- 
known to many like fire in a flint, can be at- 
tracted at a distance and are born, at it were, 
and brought forth only by the working, power 
and phantasy of the magical microcosm. 

Again, the human mind or soul, in conceiving, 
generates from this protem or transferable spir- 
itual essence a certain sign, image or idea of 
the thing or being conceived, and in time this 
ideal spiritual entity manifests itself again in 
the material or physical world. 

We find another remarkable instance of the 
magnetic influence in changing the nature and 
complexion of living objects, in the history of 
Jacob. It is as follows: Jacob agreed with 
Laban that he would still guard his sheep, pro- 
vided, that Laban would give him as a reward 
for his services, all spotted lambs and goats that 
should in the future be added to his flock. 

Laban consented to this proposal, and Jacob 
became immensely rich. It is worth the trouble 
to insert the passage relating to this transaction, 
as an application of the mysterious doctrine of 
magnetism which was so well understood by 
Jacob. 

When Jacob would no longer watch over the 
sheep and desired to go away with his wives and 
children, Laban said unto him. Genesis 30: 
27-43 : ' ' I pray thee, if I have found favor in 
thine eyes, tarry, for I have learned by experi- 
ence that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake." 



5 



And he said, *' Appoint me thy wages, and I will 
give it." And he said unto him: 

*^Thou knowest I have served thee and how 
thy cattle was with me. For it was little which 
thou hadst before I came, and it is now increased 
unto a multitude: and the Lord hath blessed 
thee since my coming: and now, when shall I 
provide for mine own house also?'' And he 
said, **What shall I give theeT' Now watch 
Jacob make a knavish and sharp bargain. And 
Jacob said, ^^Thou shalt not give me anything. 
If thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again 
feed and keep thy flock: I will pass through 
all thy flock to-day, removing from thence all 
the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the 
brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted 
and speckled among the goats ; and of such shall 
be my hire. ' ' 

. **So shall my righteous answer for me in time 
to come, when it shall come for my hire before 
thy face: every one that is not speckled and 
spotted among the goats, and brown among the 
sheep, shall be counted stolen with me''; that 
is to say they would belong to Laban. And 
Laban said, ''Behold, I would it might be ac- 
cording to thy word." And he removed that 
day the he-goats that were ring-streaked and 
speckled, and all the she-goats that were speckled 
and spotted and every one that had some white 
in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and 
gave them into the hands of his sons. And he 
set three days' journey betwixt himself and 
Jacob ; and Jacob fed the rest of Laban 's flocks. 

*'And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, 
and of the hazel and chestnut tree: and pilled 
white streaks in them, and made the white ap- 
pear which was in the rods. 















--v~HN^;^^ 


..-y 
^ 




^}&xL 


38 Booh of Notes 



ILUI 



'*And he set the rods which he had pilled be- 
fore the flock in the gutters in the watering 
troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they 
should conceive when they came to drink. 

*^And the flocks conceived before the rods, and 
hrought forth cattle riiig-streaked, speckled^ and 
spotted. And Jacob did separate the lambs, and 
set the faces of the flocks toward the ring- 
streaked, and all the brown in the flock of 
Laban ; and he put his own flocks by themselves, 
and put them not unto Laban 's cattle. And it 
came to pass whensoever the stronger cattle did 
conceive y that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes 
of the cattle in the gutters, that they might con- 
ceive among the rods, 

^^But when the cattle were feeble, he put them 
not in; so the feebler were Laban^s, and tha 
stronger Jacob's. 

^*And the man increased exceedingly, and had 
much cattle, and maid-servants, and men-ser- 
vants, and camels and asses/' 

This proves clearly that Jacob knew that the 
sheep and the goats could be made to bring forth 
their young changed in color and appearance 
corresponding with the pilled rods which were 
placed before them by him as they drank from 
the waters. 

In these days, the theory that the features of 
the offspring of a human mother can be affected 
by an object upon which the mother gazes, is 
pronounced absurd; and yet this theory, in the 
very nature of things, is as fully established as 
the fact that the mental qualities of many chil- 
dren differ totally from those of their parents. 
The fact that the sheep and the goats, upon see- 
ing the objects which Jacob so skillfully placed 






Immanence of God 



before them, brought forth their young differ- 
ing in appearance from themselves, has a very- 
deep significance. Jacob knew what the result 
of this strategem would be from experience. He 
also was given a hint of it in a vision. 

**And it came to pass at the time the cattle 
conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw 
in a dream, and behold, the rams which leaped 
upon the cattle were ring-streaked, speckled, and 
grizzled.'' With the water which they drank, 
and in which at the same time they saw their own 
reflection, they transmitted the image of the 
speckled rods to their young. 

I have not the space here to enter into a more 
extended argument to prove the truth of this phe- 
nomenon, but the fact that the female progeni- 
tor, both human and animal, is capable at the 
period of gestation to transmit to her offspring 
the image and likeness of surrounding objects, 
has a surer foundation than is commonly be- 
lieved to be possible. 

Magnetism is founded upon those inexplicable 
or marvelous Occult sympathetic properties 
which are universally found to exist more or less 
throughout the natural creation. 

Of the existence of these Occult forces or won- 
der-striking sympathies, which embrace the im- 
mutable law of attraction and repulsion, com- 
monly known as objective and subjective, active 
and passive, positive and negative, there can be 
no doubt in the philosophic mind; as the vege- 
tative soul of the world invisibly carries and in- 
separably unites a specific virtue from the starry 
skies between one thing and another, ever work- 
ing those psychic effects which no reflective 
mind can fail warmly to admire. 



^^^ 



m) 
















Note 9. 

Richard Laurence, Archbishop of Cashel, de- 
fending the sacred forgeries of the Petro-Paul- 
ites and Jews, says : Of the conduct to which I 
am alluding, I know no better defence than that 
which occurs in A Dissertation upon the Second 
Book of Esdras, by Dr. Francis Lee, who makes 
the following reflections upon the subject: You 
know nothing was anciently more common, or 
held more innocent, than such personations of 
authors. And if this in succeeding ages came to 
be the occasion of some mistakes, especially 
among the vulgar and less critical readers, it is 
not much to be wondered at ; but it is not then to 
be imputed as a crime to them, who had no 
thoughts of deceiving any by it, or (which is all 
one) of whom it doth not appear that they had. 
Ascensio Isaice Vatis, p. 177. This is very good 
in an Archbishop. The covenant which the 
** saints" and the '* churches" make with their 
benighted and ignorant followers, resembles ex- 
actly that which Nahash the Ammonite made 
with the men of Jabesh, '*0n this condition will 
I make a Covenant with you that I may thrust 
out all your right eyes/' I Sam. xi. 

OBSTINATE BIGOTRY OF THE ANCIENT 
HEBREW. 

Note 10. 

Jesus, when he first began to preach, did not 
address himself beyond the circle of the mere 
Jews. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs 
(so the Hebrews politely called all other people) 



c? 



r 



'neither cast ye your pearls before swine lest they 
trample them under their feet, and turn again 
and rend you. Matt. vii. 6. And it was the ob- 
stinate bigotry of the Jews, and their most de- 
termined resolution not even to listen to the 
preachings of Jesus, that first drew the earliest 
followers of the Ninth Messenger to an enlarged 
and liberal comprehension of his true mission to 
all mankind. Hence we find him saying : And 
other sheep, there are, which are not of this fold. 
Those also I must bring, and they shall hear my 
voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shep- 
herd. John X. 16. It is obvious that this can 
never be, until the truths propounded here are 
universally adopted. Paul also was forced to 
profess this doctrine— i^or the scripture saith, 
Whosoever believeth on him shall not be 
ashamed. For there is no difference between the 
Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all 
is rich unto all that call upon him. For whoso- 
ever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be 
saved. How then shall they call on him in whom 
they have not believed? and how shall they be- 
lieve in him of whom they have not heard? and 
how shall they hear without a preacher? And 
how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it 
is written. How beautiful are the feet of them 
that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad 
tidings of good things! 



THE CONSERVATIVE MASTER. 

Note 11. 

The manner in which Jesus was apprehended, 
says one of the writers on the New Testament, 
Bhows that he was not much known at that time, 

















42 



Book of Notes 



and it shows also that the meetings he then held 
with his followers were in secret, and that he had 
given over, or suspended preaching publicly. 
Judas could not otherwise betray him than by 
giving information where he was, and pointing 
him out to the officers that went to arrest him, 
and the reason for employing and paying Judas 
to do this, could rise only from the causes already 
mentioned, that of his not being much known, 
and living concealed. 

WHO WERE THE ANCIENTS? 

Note 12. 

It is saddening to find a learned scholar like 
Bryant among the witnesses of untruth, yet I 
would hope that the following passage was a slip 
of the pen rather than deliberately false. I am 
sensible, he says, that there are persons who 
maintain that the knowledge, both of God and 
his attributes, was well known to the ancients. 
But when we come to inquire who those ancients 
were, we find them to be 07ily the people of 
Greece and its colonies, who bore but a small 
proportion among the kingdoms of the earth. 
And when we look into the time, we find it to be^ 
a few years before the birth of Socrates, which is 
comparatively late in the era of mankind. On 
the Scriptures, p. 6. A more utter falsification 
of history than this cannot be paralleled. The 
people of Greece and its colonies really knew less 
of God and his nature than almost any other 
people: they were likewise a comparatively re- 
cent people: yet Minos gave them divine laws 
and Orpheus sang the most divine theology 1400 
years before the aera of Jesus, There is scarcely 




Immanence of God 



43 



any excuse for Bryant's statement. Sir William 
Jones has proved that one of the Vedas was writ- 
ten 1580 years before the Christian aera, and 
grander glimpses of the Supreme are to be seen 
no where than in these Hymns. Yet even these 
were but the vestiges of a still older and finer 
theology. 

GOD'S WHIMSICALITIES. 

Note 13. 

If the history of the fall of Adam and Eve 
be allegorical (and who can doubt that it is?), 
the history of the atonement by the blood of 
Jesus, must also be allegorical ; for, if there were 
no fall, then there was no need of an atonement. 
So also Cain and Abel are allegorical; the 
mythos was invented by priests to show that 
blood was more agreeable to God than the harm- 
less sacrifice of flowers, fruits, and incense. 
Having established this, the next step was to 
prove that God, who delighted not in the blood 
of bullocks (7s. i. 11), or in the strength of the 
horse {Ps. cxlvii. 10), was especially delighted 
in the Iblood of his only beloved son. The creed 
of the Hebrews is indeed atheism, irreligion, and 
blasphemy, in their worst and most debasing 
forms. That God selected Jews to be his chosen 
people, not for any virtues they might have, but 
because it pleased him to do so, is the theory laid 
down by the writer of Exodus vii. 6, 7, 8. For 
thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: 
the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special 
people unto himself, above all people that are 
upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not 
set his love upon you nor choose you because you 




^ 



UJ\ 



n 



'mirnn imomi m 















were more in number than any people; for ye 
were the fewest of all people: But because the 
Lord loved you, and because he would keep the 
oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath 
the Lord brought you out tvith a mighty hand, 
and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, 
from the hand of Pharaoh King of Egypt. This, 
it will be seen, represents the Great Father, not 
only as a most capricious, but a most odious, 
tyrant; who, blind to the virtues of all others 
on the earth, selected as his own peculiar favour- 
ites and spoiled children the most hideous horde 
of murderers, robbers, ravishers, sodomites, and 
blasphemers, that ever cursed the globe with 
diabolical deeds. This is in conformity with 
their usual debased ideas of God. His weakness 
and mortal nature they indicated in that verse 
of Exodus, which reduces the Supreme to the 
level with the poor little Pagan penates of a cor- 
rupt age. In six days the Lord made heaven 
and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and 
was refreshed! ! xxxi. 17. The same odious 
ideas of God's whimsicalities in loving not whom 
he should but whom he thought fit, are con- 
veyed in Romans ix. For they are not all Israel, 
which are of Israel: Neither because they are 
the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but 
in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They 
which are the children of the flesh, these are not 
the children of God: but the children of the 
promise are counted for the seed. For this is the 
word of promise. At this time will I come, and 
Sarah shall have a son. And not only this; but 
when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even 
by our father Isaac. (For the children being 
not yet born, neither having done any good or 



Immanence of God 



evil, that the purpose of God according to elec- 
tion might stand, not of works, hut of him that 
calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall 
serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have 
I loved, hut Esau have I hated. What shall we 
say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? 
God forhid. For he saith to Moses, I will have 
mercy on whom I will have mercy, and will have 
compassion on whom I will have compassion. 
So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him 
that runneth, hut of God that sheweth mercy. 
For the scriptui^e saith unto Pharaoh, Even for 
this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I 
might shew my power in thee, and that my name 
might he declared throughout all the earth. 
Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have 
mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou 
wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find 
faidt? For who hath resisted his will? Nay 
hut, O man, who art thou that repliest against 
God? Shall the thing formed say to him that 
formed it, Why has thou made me thus? Hath 
not the potter power over the clay, of the same 
lump to make one vessel unto honour, and an- 
other unto dishonour? What if God, willing to 
shew his wrath, and to make his power known, 
endured with much long sufferiiig the vessels of 
wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might 
make knoivn the riches of his glory on the vessels 
of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto 
glory, even us, whom he hath called, not of the 
Jews only, hut also of the Gentiles? * * * 
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predes- 
tinate to he conformed to the image of his Son, 
that he might he the firsthorn among many 
hrethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, 



e^ 



III? 



46 



Booh of Notes 



if 



them he also called: and whom he called, them 
viy, he also justified: and whom he justified, them he 

s.^ also glorified. What shall we then say to these 

things? If God he for us, who can he against 
us? He that spared not his own Son, hut deliv- 
ered him up for us all, how shall he not with 
him also freely give us all things? Who shall 
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is 
God that justifieth. So that between Jew and 
Paulite, the philosophic Christian, if such there 
be, is left in a very Slough of Despair. Mr. 
Hails challenges me, says Sir W. Drummond, to 
produce a solitary proof that the Patriarchs 
were polytheists. I do not say that they were 
practical polytheists: but I say that I doubt 
whether Jacob had clear notions of the nature 
and unity of the Divine Being. Mr. Hails is a 
Hebrew scholar. I ask him, whether the words 
of the vow {Gen. xxviii. 20) do not run literally 
as follows: If Elohim will he with me, and will 
keep me in this way that I go, and will give me 
hread to eat and raiment to put on, so that I re- 
turn to my father's house in peace, then shall 
Jehovah he to me for Elohim, Now these words 
in sense amount to this : If God will do certain 
things for my benefit, then Jehovah shall be my 
God. But what is the meaning of this, if Jacob 
had understood that Jehovah was God and the 
sole God? Had he been sure of this would he 
have ventured to make conditions with Jehovah ? 
and is it not implied in the vow that, if the con- 
ditions be not granted, Jehovah should not be 
considered as Jacob's God? Mr. Hails does not 
deny that Jacob's vow implied a bargain: but 
he says that such bargains are common even 
among us Christians, and yet what should we 



5C 



V. 



Immanence of God 47 I 

think of his theology, who ventured to say : If 
God will do this and that for me, then Christ 
shall be my God. Such language would surely 
offend us, or at least would give us reason to 
think the person using it had not clear notions 
of the Divine Nature and Essence. Mr. Hails 
says that Jacob 's vow fairly interpreted amounts 
to this: That on his return to his country, 
which God promised should take place, he would 
more unreservedly devote himself to the service 
of the Elohim or God. I confess myself unable 
to elicit any such meaning from the words of the 
patriarch. On the contrary, it seems to me that 
Jacob sets out with the admission of the exist- 
ence of Elohim or God, and that he then pro- 
ceeds to say if God do certain things for me, in 
such a manner as I may expect from the words 
spoken unto me by Jehovah, who declared him- 
self to me in a vision to be the God of Abraham ^ 
and Isaac, then I will recognize Jehovah as God. 
Class, Joiirn. viii. 166. This miserable and de- 
graded view of their God is at the foundation of 
the Hebrew faith. Thus we have Jehovah coolly 
describing the mutability of the Immutable. O 
house of Israel cannot I do with you as the pot- 
ter? saith the Lord, Behold as the clay is in the 
potter's handy so are ye in mine hand, house 
of Israel. At what instant I shall speak con- 
cerning a kingdom, to pluck up, ayid pull down^ 
and to destroy it; If that nation, against whom 
I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will 
repent of the evil that I thought to do unto 
to them. And at what instant I shall speak con- 
cerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to 
build and to plant it; if it do evil in my sight, 
that it obey mt wy voice, then I will repent of 



-^ 



rm 















the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them. 
Jer. xvii. Nearly the same characteristics dis- 
tinguish our Paulites from most other believers. 
Man ventures, says a shrewd observer, into the 
boldest presumptions. He finds fault with 
everything ; his selfishness is never satisfied ; his 
ingratitude is never at an end. He takes on him- 
self to direct the Almighty what to do, even in 
the government of the Universe. He prays dic- 
tatorially. When it is sunshine he prays for 
rain, and when it is rain he prays for sunshine. 
He follows the same idea in everything that he 
prays for; for what is the amount of all his 
prayers, but an attempt to make the Almighty 
change his mind, and act otherwise than he does. 
It is as if he were to say, Thou knowest not so 
well as I. One of Bishop Watson's sophisms, 
in his Letter to Paint, may be here noted. You 
think it repugnant to God's moral justice, he 
says, that he should doom to destruction the 
crying or smiling infants of the Canaanites. 
Why do you not maintain it to be repugnant to 
his moral justice that he should suffer crying 
or smiling infants to be swallowed up by an 
earthquake, dro^^med by an inundation, con- 
sumed by a fire, starved by a famine, or de- 
stroyed by a pestilence ? The word of God is in 
perfect harmony with his works — crying or smil- 
ing infants are subjected to death in both. But 
is there no difference between the natural result 
of God's laws, as they regulate the elements, 
and his express command to kill and slay ? The 
evils inflicted on the Canaanites resulted from an 
extraordinary iriter position of the Divine au- 
thority. Evils brought on mankind by the oper- 
ation of the Laws of Nature cannot be said to be 



produced by any such interposition. If the 
literal interpretation of the Book of Joshua be 
followed, God appears to have specially inter- 
fered to destroy the seven nations. In the Book 
of Nature, from the perusal of which one infers 
the moral justice of the Deity, no example can 
be found of his interference with the course of 
nature's laws for the purpose of destroying his 
creatures. If the Cabir does so, and does so 
wrongly, he must answer for it, as for any other 
crime. 

FUTURE RESURRECTION. 

Note 17. 

In the Epistle of Saint Clement to the Corin- 
thians, he thus alludes to the Phoenix. Let us 
consider, beloved, how the Lord does continually 
shew us, that there shall be a future resurrec- 
tion, of which he has made our Lord Jesus Christ 
the First-fruits, raising him from the dead. Let 
us contemplate, beloved, the resurrection that is 
continually made before our eyes. Day and 
night manifest a resurrection to us. The night 
lies down, and the day arises; again the day de- 
parts, and the night comes on. Let us behold the 
fruits of the earth. Everyone sees how the seed 
is sown. The sewer goes forth and casts it upon 
the earth ; and the seed which when it was sown 
fell upon the earth dry and naked, in time dis- 
solves ; and from the dissolution, the great power 
of the providence of the Lord raises it again, and 
of one seed many arise, and bring forth fruit. 
Let us consider that wonderful type of the resur- 
rection which is seen in the Eastern Countries, 
that is to say, in Arabia. There is a certain bird 










^/c 















Book of Notes 



called a Phoenix; of this there is never but one 
at a time, and that lives six hundred years. And 
when the time of its dissolution draws near, that 
it must die, it makes itself a nest of Frankin- 
cense and Myrrh, and other spices, and which, 
when its time is fulfilled, it enters and dies. But 
its flesh putrifying, breeds a certain worm, which 
being nourished with the juice of the dead bird, 
brings forth feathers ; and when it is grown to a 
perfect state, it takes up the nest in which the 
bones of its parent lie, and carries it fram Ara- 
bia into Egypt, to a city called Hieliopolis, and 
flying in open day in the sight of all men, lays 
it upon the altar of the sun, and so returns from 
whence it came. The priests then search into 
the records of the time, and find that it returns 
precisely at the end of six hundred years. And 
shall we then think it to be any very great and 
strange thing for the Lord of all to raise up those 
that religiously serve Him in the assurance of a 
good faith, when even by a bird he shews us the 
greatness of his power to fulfill his promise ? For 
he says in a certain place, Thou shalt raise me 
up, and I will confess unto thee. And again, I 
laid me down and slept and awaked, because 
thou art with me. And again Job says, Thou 
shalt raise up this flesh of mine, that has suf- 
ferred all these things. 

THE CHALDEAN PRIESTS. 

Note 18. 

Ogham, which is a secret character, like that 
which Enoch learned, is pronounced Oum, and 
is the Hindu Om, and Aum, or Ineffable Name. 
Higgins says : If a person will think deeply, he 



c 

( 




Immanence of God 



will have no difficulty in forming an idea how, 
when the art of writing was secret, a written 
word would be magical. A few lines scrawled 
in the presence of a person on a bit of leaf or 
bark, might be given to him, and he might be 
told whoever is a magician or initiated, on see- 
ing that scrawl, will know your name or any 
other desired fact. A person must think deeply 
on this, or he will not see the force of the argu- 
ment, which arises from the dupe having no 
idea of the nature or power of conveying knowl- 
edge by symbols. As the Chaldean priests were 
the only people who understood the secret of 
writing, it followed that they were all magi or 
magicians; and, when the secret did begin to 
creep out, all letters were magical or supernat- 
ural. This and some other secrets— the tele- 
scope, astronomy, the loadstone, made the Chal- 
daens masters of the world, and they became Mo- 
guls. Mogul is but Al Mog, The Mage. On this 
account all the princes of India desire to be in- 
vested with the pallium by the old Mogul of 
Delhi, successor of Gengis Khan of Tartary, the 
last Incarnation of Divine Wisdom. The my- 
thos at last always reverts to its birth place, In- 
dian Tartary— the Mount Soluria, the snow cap- 
ped Meru, where the Gods sit on the sides of the 
North. How the Mogul comes to be Lord para- 
mount of the world I shall explain in a future 
book. Anacalypsis, ii. 175. He afterwards adds : 
It is a fact not hitherto explained that the native 
Hindoo princes formerly solicited (and even yet, 
if the British did not prevent it, would solicit) 
investiture in their dominions by the hand of 
the Mogul at Delhi, though he is a Mohammedan 
and they are followers of Christna or of the 









1^;^ 















Book of Notes 



Brahmins. The reason is found in his being sup- 
posed to be a descendant of Gengis Khan, who 
was believed to be an Avatar a Vicrama ditya; 
and, as such, entitled to universal dominion— a 
right to which dominion is believed still to exist 
in his lineal descendant. The fact of the Hindoo 
princes soliciting investiture by the hand of the 
Mohammedan Mogul may be accounted for by 
the theory which I advocate, that Mohamed also 
is considered by them to have been an Avatar, 
as he was certainly considered by the Afghans. 
* * "^ On this rests their claim or title of Son 
of the Sun and Moon, which at first appears to 
us so monstrously ridiculous. The Empire of 
Gengis Khan was called the Wise Government, 
or The Government of Wisdom, and his name 
was Zin. Respecting this prince see in the Ency. 
Brit. art. Mogul, 299, &c., the pedigree from 
Japhet, the romantic account of his ancestors 
for 400 years, his inauguration by a prophet, 
the change of his name from Temujin, and the 
belief of his subjects that he was entitled to pos- 
sess the whole world. This inauguration of Gen- 
gis took place in the 13th century, when 'in Eu- 
rope the Millenium was expected, when all men 
were looking out for some one to come. Gengis 
Khan marched into China in A. D. 1211, ii. 352-3. 

JEWISH CHRONOLOGY. 

Note 19. 

The Hebrew year was shorter than the solar 
year by eleven days— after three years they in- 
sert a thirteenth month, which they call Ve- 
Adar, or a second Adar. How far the Jewish 
computation by lunar years, their ignorance of 





Immanence of God 



astronomy, and want of exact tables, may have 
increased their difficulties we need not say. But 
these, and many more reasons, which we will- 
ingly omit, have induced a great number of 
learned chronologers, ancient and modern, such 
as St. Jerom, Scaliger, Vossius, Gerebrand, and 
^^others, to think it next to impossible to adjust 
the Jewish chronology by those few books of 
theirs that are extant. Ancient Universal His- 
tory, ii. 226. We have seen that the year in 
Adam's time consisted, or was thought to con- 
sist, of 360 days only. The sudden alteration in 
the Earth's course around the Sun, which pro- 
duced the Deluge of Atlantis, doubtless was the 
cause of its being lengthened to its present num- 
ber of days. But this change was known only 
to the most scientific of the pontiffs of the true 
Church, and many centuries passed before it was 
known even to the learned. It is said by Syn- 
cellus that the year of 365 days was established 
by Asis, or Aseth, who began to reign over Egypt 
about 1772 years before Christ, and who sat 
about fifty years on the throne. Prom this state- 
ment we might infer that the year of 360 days 
had been in use before the time of Asis ; but from 
the accounts of Plutarch and Diodorus Siculus, 
it would appear that the five days had been inter- 
calated even previously to the birth of Osiris 
and Isis— that is, in ages which we now call pre- 
historic. I therefore conclude that Asis had 
only reformed the calendar, or had changed the 
thoth, or commencement of the year. Asis, as 
we know^ was a Messianic name ; it is Azez, and 
Hesus, and Jesus. The Asis here alluded to was 
probably Brigoo, or Zaratusht. When Diodorus 
mentions a thing as done in the days of Osiris 










"tl 



u 






Xsr^,^J^yV■l 




c^xr^^ 




Book of Notes 



and Iris, he means in days of primeval antiquity : 
unless, indeed, the word ** earthly'' is prefixed 
to Osiris, it always signifies either God or the 
Sun : when so prefixed it means one of the Heav- 
enly Messengers. The profoundly learned Hig- 
gins says : That the work called the Apocalypse 
of St. John is of very great antiquity is clearly 
proved by the fact that it makes the year only 
360 days long ; the same length that it is made in 
the third book of Genesis, as Bailli has proved, 
and Dr. Hales admitted. It assigns 1260 days to 
three years and a half (cap. ix. 2, 3; xii. 6, 14; 
xiii. 5, and Calmet in voce, year) . The pious got 
over these matters by saying that this was the 
prophetic year. It is impossible to help smiling 
at the credulity of these good people. No reason 
can be too absurd to be received by them. Ana- 
calypsis, i. 577. 

CHALDEAN SOOTHSAYERS. 

Note 20. 

About the year 1780 great excitement was 
produced in the south of France by the extraor- 
dinary power of discovering, or divining, sub- 
terranean springs and waters, manifested by a 
poor herdsman of Bouvantes in the province of 
Dauphiny, named Antoine Bleton. These mar- 
vellous talents were soon put into requisition, 
and Bleton speedily acquired great fame by his 
numerous discoveries of water, by which the 
many who employed him were enriched. He 
shortly attracted the notice of a well-known sa- 
vant, M. Thouvenel, who devoted a pamphlet to 
a relation and investigation of the facts which 
had come beneath his notice. Three years later 



if 



JC^- \r ^<z:' 




Immanence of God 



M. Thouvenel, whose adherence to Bletonism 
had drawn upon him a host of antagonists, pub- 
lished a second pamphlet replete with interest- 
ing and important matter, among which will be 
found a summary of the discussion, the affidavits 
by which the alleged discoveries of Bleton were 
authenticated, and a most curious narrative of 
the excursions made by M. Thouvenel, with Ble- 
ton and another person similarly endowed, as 
his assistants, in pursuance of a commission from 
the king, to analyse the mineral and medicinal 
waters of France. About the year 1690, a power 
was attributed to the divining rod, which till 
then it had not been held to possess. A poor ma- 
son of Saint Vecan, also in Dauphiny, asserted 
that with a wand he could not only discover 
water and metals, but also the misdeeds of rob- 
bers and assassins. The fullest narrative of his 
proceedings will be found in a pamphlet by a M. 
de Vagny, procureur du roi, at Grenoble. This 
is entitled (the title being translated) ** Marvel- 
lous History of a Mason, who, guided by the 
divining rod, followed a murderer during forty- 
five hours upon land, and more than thirty hours 
upon water!" Billingsley, in his *' Agricultural 
Survey of the County of Somerset,'' (Bath, 
8vo, 1797), speaks of the faith held in that 
county by the Mendip miners in the efficacy of 
the divining rod:— ** The general method of dis- 
covering the situation and direction of these 
Beams of ore (which lie at various depths, from 
five to twenty fathoms, in a chasm between two 
benches of solid rock) is by the help of the divin- 
ing rod, vulgarly called josing; and a variety of 
strong testimonies are adduced in supporting 
this doctrine. Most rational people, however, 






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Book of Notes 



give but little credit to it, and consider the whole 
as a trick. Should the fact be allowed, it is diffi- 
cult to account for it; and the influence of the 
mines on the hazel rod seems to partake so much 
of the marvellous, as almost entirely to exclude 
the operation of known and natural agents. So 
confident, however, are the common miners of the 
efficacy, that they scarcely ever sink a shaft but 
by its direction ; and those who are dexterous in 
the use of it will mark on the surface the course 
and breadth of the vein ; and after that, with the 
assistance of the rod, will follow the same course 
twenty times following, blindfolded. ' ' M. Thou- 
venel arrived at the conviction that the phe- 
nomena of the divining rod were attributable to 
magnetism or electricity; a similar opinion is 
also formed by M. Formey, secretary of the 
Academy of Berlin, in his article on the subject 
in the Dictionnaire Encyclopedique. It appears 
that Bleton became aware of the presence of 
water, &c., by an internal ^* commotion,'' as he 
termed itj and was in no way dependent for the 
discovery upon the hazel rod, which from the 
time of Moses and the Chaldaean soothsayers, to 
that of Sidrophel, cuts so important a figure in 
the operation. So also the ZaJiories of Spain, to 
whom is ascribed the same faculty of discovering 
hidden water without the agency of the rod ; to- 
gether with a keenness of precipiency not pos- 
sessed by others. Upon this the Quarterly Re- 
view remarks:— ''Rejecting, however, the su- 
pernatural powers of vision which have been 
ascribed to them, and in which children born on 
Good Friday are also believed to share, it is not 
tmlikely that by long experience, and attending 
to indications which escape the less experienced 



Or 





Immanence of God 



eye, they may be able to give a tolerable guess at 
the existence of subterranean waters. Some- 
thing similar is told of the Arabs of the Desert 
by a modern traveller, who says that they have 
an uncommon facility in discovering different 
wells by atmospherical or other signs, which do 
not affect the senses of an European/' It would 
seem, on the other hand, that the rod itself has 
been held to possess independent powers, and to 
be able to make the discovery without the inter- 
vention of the human operator. 





rF 


mm 


57 





v^/\/1 



THE TABERNACLE AND THE TEMPLE. 

Note 21. 

The Mythologists gave out that Atlas sup- 
ported heaven: one reason for this notion was 
that upon Mount Atlas stood a Temple to Coelus 
[Cali or Koila, the Holy Spirit] . The temple, says 
Bryant, was undoubtedly a cavern [like Elora 
or Elephanta] ; but the name is to be understood 
in its original acceptation as Coel, the house of 
God, to which the natives paid their adoration. 
This mode of worship among the Atlanteans be- 
trays a great antiquity, as the temple seems to 
have been merely a vast hollow in the side of the 
mountain, and to have had in it neither image, 
nor pillar, nor stone, nor any miaterial object of 
adoration. This Atlas (of which I have been 
speaking) is a mountain, and of a tolerable 
height, which the natives esteem both as a Tem- 
ple and a Deity; and it is the great object by 
which they swear, and to which they pay their 
devotions. The cave in the mountain was cer- 
tainly named Coel, the house of God, equivalent 
to Coelus of the Romans. To this the people 



"^W 



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nil 



mrrmmm 




Book of Notes 



made their offerings; and this was the heaven 
which Atlas was supposed to support. It seema 
to have been no uncommon term among the Afri- 
cans. There was a city in Libya named Coel, 
which the Romans rendered Coelu. There are 
plenty of people who, taking it literally, laugh 
at the notion of Atlas supporting the heavens, 
and who pity the Gentiles for their belief. But 
it is not more incredible than some of the things 
which we read in a book circulated by millions, 
as if to diffuse a knowledge of our credulity over 
all the earth. It would be difficult, says Drum^ 
mond in his Oedipus Jitdaicus, to imagine a 
more singular history than that which relates to 
the construction of the Tabernacle and of the 
Temple, contained in the Old Testament. The 
Deity is represented as giving the pattern of 
both, as ordering the whole furniture, and as de- 
scending to the most minute details concerning 
the arrangement. Nothing is left unnoticed by 
the Divine Architect, who condescends to speak 
with amazing precision and familiarity, both of 
the ornaments and of the utensils: of lintels, 
curtains, fringes, rings, tongs, tables, dishes, 
bowls, spoons, and candlesticks. This, however, 
is not all. The Tabernacle and the Temple were 
inhabited by the Deity. The God of Nature 
and of the Universe, the Creator and Pre- 
server of all things, the Ineffable and Pri- 
mordial Being who called into existence all those 
Suns and Planets which roll through the bound- 
less regions of Space— the sole God, fixed his res- 
idence in a box made of shittim wood, and over- 
laid and lined with gold. Upon this box too 
the Deity was carried about by a barbarous 
horde of robbers. The whole of this history, if 





Hi 



x-^'-\r\.\. 



n 



Immanence of God 



literally taken, is surely very strange and aston- 
ishing. There can be no doubt, however, that it 
obtains implicit credit among the generality of 
Christians, who, without enquiring into the c^xr^o 
spirit and character of the ancient Oriental N — f^ 
writings, are firmly persuaded that facts only | 

are recorded in the book of the Old Testament. 
* * * I confess myself to be one of those 
who find it impossible to reconcile the histories 
related in the Old Testament, if literally taken, 
to my notions either of the goodness or greatness 
of God. Who indeed that has any just notions t^— v---^ 
of the Supreme Being can believe that the Deity \ 

did in fact either sit down to breakfast with UrJnJ 
Abraham, or talk to Moses about pans and shov- r5^?^ 
els, and fleshhooks and firepans? Who can be- 
lieve that the Eternal and Unchangeable God 
did that in anger one day for which He was 
sorry the next? If these things be taken liter- Q^'xr^<:D 
ally, there can be nothing more inconsistent 
with true theology; and most surely we should 
be the first to laugh if an Indian were to tell us 
that his God was so very apt to change his mind. 



LUTHER. 

Note 22. 

Father Simon, a competent, though it may be 
admitted a prejudiced, authority, thus describes 
Luther, who, it should be premised, had scarcely 
any knowledge whatever of Hebrew. *'He 
thought that by reading of morality, and bawling 
against those who were not of his opinion, he 
might very much illustrate the word of God; 
but one may easily see by his own books, that he 
was but a turbulent and passionate man, who 



Mmum 




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60 



Book of Notes 




had only a flashy wit and quick invention. There 
is nothing great or learned in his commentaries 
upon the Bible: everything is low and mean; 
and as he had studied divinity, he has rather 
composed a rhapsody of theological questions 
than a commentary upon the scripture text. To 
which we may add that he wanted understand- 
ing, and that he usually followed his senses 
rather than his reason. For example, can any- 
thing be more foolish than his exposition of the 
Serpent in Gen. iii. He affirms that the Serpent 
before his punishment was a handsome creature 
and went upon two feet: he, moreover, assures 
us that before the Deluge there was no rainbow: 
and that God created it for those very reasons 
which are set down in Gen. ix. This shows how 
little he had studied the scripture style, and how 
ignorant he was of the symbolical sense thereof." 



GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 

Note 23. 

in the Old Testament, as well as in the New, 
God is represented as repenting of his works, as 
being moved with anger, vexation, grief, joy, 
love, and hate; as moving from place to place, 
having arms with hands and fingers ; a head with 
face, mouth, tongue, eyes, nose, ears, a heart, 
bowels, back, thighs, legs ; as seeing, being seen, 
speaking and hearing, slumbering, waking, &c. 
No one capable of sound reasoning can for a 
moment imagine that these, or any other descrip- 
tions of God, are intended to convey literal no- 
tions of the unsearchable, incomprehensible Be- 
ing. Bammohun Eoy, p. 130. 



^^: 




Immanence of God 



ANCIENT SYMBOLS. 

Note 24. 

Everything in those days was symbolic. Wor- 
ship of the Goat, or the common Jewish religion, 
was originally worship of God, under the Pan 
(or AH) sjnnbol: the images were made with 
long beards: men bowed before and touched 
them: hence they did the same to Sages and 
Kings. Note, that Cupid on ancient medals 
wearing the mask of Pan, signifies the Messiah 
of Love, representing the features of Him who 
is All. Pan holding a beautiful Vase, from 
which a blazing light was emitted, was one of 
the forms of lamp used in the Mysteries. So a 
human head (the Messenger) emitting flame 
from the mouth, symbolized the Tongue of Fire, 
or the Mouth of God, mentioned ante, section 
59. Note that the Piscis Australis, which was an 
astral allusion to the Messenger Cannes, has a 
brilliant star in its mouth, that is, a Tongue of 
Light or Fire. This shows how beautiful are all 
the allusions which the Ancients made to the 
occult secrets of theology. 



lyjrfirrt 



II Li I 



DISTINGUISHED SONS. 

Note 25. 

The same distinction existed in China ; the first 
king mentioned in the dynasties is Pou-on-kou, 
and he is said to have been the first man that 
ever lived, and his progeny formed two distinct 
djoiasties— the Regal Family of Heaven and the 
Regal Family of the Earth. De Guignes^ Hist, 
des HiinSy i. 3. St. Luke, says the author of the 
Cambridge Key, calls Adam the Son of God, iii. 



r> 71 



ILUI 



s-o 



^^^: 



62 



Book of Notes 



38. By his wife he had two distinguished sons, 
Cain and Seth— Abel being dead— and three 
daughters. These two sons are placed equally 
by the Hebrews and the Hindus at the head of 
two distingiushed lines. By the former the race 
of Seth are designated the Sons of God, and the 
race of Cain the sons of men; by the Hindus 
they are severally called the Children of the Sun 
and IMoon, or the greater and lesser light. The 
scripture says that the Sons of God saw the 
daughters of men ; that they were fair ; the Hin- 
dus that the Children of the Sun married with 
those of the Moon in consequence of their 
beauty. It matters very little whether these 
accounts are true or fabulous; that they are de- 
rived from the same source is all that I attempt 
to demonstrate. 






^^\^A/^yn 



\m 



C:;^VN::3 



CAVE OF ELEPHANTS. 

Note 26. 

Soon after Christna's birth he was carried 
away by night and concealed in a region remote 
from his natal place for fear of a tyrant, whose 
destroyer it was foretold he would become, and 
who had for that reason ordered all the male 
children born at that period to be slain. The 
story is the subject of an immense sculpture in 
the Cave of Elephants, where the tyrant is rep- 
resented destroying the children. The date of 
this scidpiure is lost in the most remote an- 
tiquity. It must, at the very latest period, be 
fixed at least many hundred years previous to 
the birth of Christ. But with much greater 
probability thousands instead of hundreds of 
years might be assigned to its existence. Anaca- 



Immanence of God 



63 



lypsis i. 129. The Jew writers of the Four Gos- 
pels (whoever they were) remembered the my- 
thologies of their fathers, the refugees from 
Oude, and so introduced into the history of 
Jesus a narrative of things that we know never 
happened in Judsea. The disappearance of the 
Messiah here mentioned was celebrated in the 
ancient Mysteries. 

ISAIAH. 

Note 27. 

The Jew priests who compiled the tracts that 
now pass under the name of Isaiah appear to 
have understood the meaning of a vision. But 
as usual, they immediately follow it up with 
one of their dread ideas of God deputing a 
Messenger with the diabolical design of confirm- 
ing the Hebrews in their atheism, bloodthirsti- 
ness, and lusts. This is in keeping with the 
Homeric legend of Zeus, sending Destructive 
Dream to Aga-Memnon, when he had resolved 
to destroy thousands of his forces. Note that 
it is the Voice, not Adonai (My Rulers, my 
Lords), that is heard. 

HORRIBLE PUNISHMENT OP VIRGINS WHO BROKE 
THEIR VOWS. 

Note 28. 

Faber {Pag. Idol, 1. 26) alludes to this, as a 
very remarkable opinion, which was occasionally 
entertained respecting the character of the Great 
Mother. She was by some theologists esteemed 
a Virgin, and was thought by her own energy 



J 



5C^tI'^^Oi^^^ 



alone to have given birth to the principal hero- 
deity. I do not know why the reverend author 
is annoyed that a Virgin should do this ; or should 
blame the pagans for thinking so. To my mind 
it is a much more pure mythos than that of the 
adulterine birth of Jesus ; which is probably un- 
true. He adds, after this, that the speculation 
was reduced to practice, so far as it was capable 
of being thus reduced, by one remarkable clasa 
of ancient priestesses. In imitation of the sup- 
posed virginity of the Great Mother, colleges of 
maids under a regular monastic discipline were 
established; ^nd, whether in the old Continent, 
or in that of America, a breach of their vows of 
chastity was visited by the most severe and hor- 
rible punishment. Upon generation from the 
earth I cite the learned orientalist Dr. Pococke : 
—This opinion, he says, of animals rising out of 
the earth at first was not peculiar to Epicurus, 
on whose account it hath lain under some odium ; 
the Stoics were of the same mind, and the Pytha- 
goreans and the Egyptians, and I think all that 
supposed the Earth to rise from a Chaos. Neither 
do I know any harm in that opinion, if duly 
limited and stated, for what inconvenience is it, 
or what diminution of Providence, that there 
should be the principles of life, as well as the 
principles of vegetation in the new earth ? As to 
the spontaneous origin of living creatures, Moses 
plainly implies that there was a particular action, 
or ministry of Providence, in the formation of 
the body of man; but, as to other animals, he 
seems to suppose that the earth brought them 
forth as it did herbs and plants (Gen, i. 24, as 
compared with verse 11.) * * The ancients, 
both the Stoics and Aristotle, have supposed 




^^ 




Immanence of God 



I! 



that there was something of an ethereal element 
in the malegeneture from whence the virtue of 
it chiefly proceeded ; and, if so, why may we not 
suppose at that time some general impression or 
irradiation of that purer element to fructify the 
new made earth ? Moses saith there was an incu- 
bation of the Spirit of God upon the mass, and 
without all doubt that was either to form or 
fructify it by the mediation of this Active Prin- 
ciple. But the ancients speak more plainly with 
express mention of this Ether, and of the im- 
pregnation of the earth by it as betwixt male and 
female— a notion which St. Augustine saith, Vir- 
gil did not take from the fictions of the poets, 
but from the books of the philosophers. The sim- 
ilarity, says Higgins, or rather the coincidence 
of the Cabalistic, Alexandrian, and Oriental 
philosophy, will be sufficiently evinced by briefly 
stating the common tenets in which these differ- 
ent systems agreed; they are as follows:— All 
things are derived by Emanation from One Prin- 
ciple, and this Principle is God. From Him a 
substantial Power immediately proceeds, which 
is the Image of God and the Source of all subse- 
quent emanations. This Second Principle sends 
forth by the energy of emanation other natures 
which are more or less perfect, according to their 
different degrees of distance in the scale of 
emanation from the First Source of existence, 
and which constitute different worlds or orders 
of being, all united to the Eternal Power from 
which they proceed. Matter is notJiing more 
than the most remote effect of the emanative 
energy of the Deity. The material world re- 
ceives its form from the immediate agency of 
Powers, far beneath the First Source of Being. 




^ 













BooTi of Notes 



Evil is the necessary effect of the imperfection 
of matter. Human souls are distinct emanations 
from Deity, and after they are liberated from 
their material vehicles, they will return through 
various stages of purification to the fountain 
whence they first proceeded. Anacalypsis, i. 72. 
Beausobre further says that Chalcidius, Me- 
thodius, Origen, and Clemens Alexandrinus, a 
most formidable phalanx of authorities, give it 
this sense. The latter quoted a sentence from a 
work of St. Peter's now lost. Beausobre gives 
us the expression of Clemens, ^'This is what St. 
Peter says who has very well understood this 
word. God has made the heaven and the earth 
hy the PtHnciple. (Dieu fait le ciel et la Terre 
dans la Principe.) This Principle is the Holy 
Spirit, who is called "Wisdom by all the prophets. 
Here is evidently the doctrine of the Magi, or of 
Emanations. This recondite mythos is dimly al- 
luded to by Proclus on Timaeus. The Artificer 
of the Universe, he says, prior to his whole fabri- 
cation is said to have betaken himself to the 
Oracle of Night, to have been there filled with 
divine conceptions, to have received the princi- 
ples of fabrication, and (if it be lawful so to 
speak )to have solved all His doubts. Night, too, 
calls upon the Father Zeus to undertake the fab- 
rication of the Universe, and Jupiter is said by 
the theologist Orpheus to have thus addressed 
Night:— 

Nurse supreme of all the powers divine 
Immortal Night ; how with unconquered mind 
Must I the source of the immortals fix ? 
And how will all things but as one subsist 
Yet each its nature separate preserve? 
To which interrogation the Goddess thus re- 
plies :— 




Immanence of God 



All things receive enclosed on every side 
In Aether's wide ineffable embrace: 
Then in the midst of Aether place the Heaven 
In which let Earth of infinite extent, 
The Sea and Stars the crown of Heaven be 
fixed. 

APOCRYPHAL BOOKS. 

Note 29. 

The apocryphal books were not those only 
on which destruction fell. Those also were made 
away with which diminished the power or the 
profits of the priests and Levites. This object 
began to show itself first in the burning of books 
at Antioch as described in the Acts of the Apos- 
tles, and was continued by a succession of coun- 
cils, till the last canon of the Council of Trent 
against heathen learning. Anacalypsis, i. 565. 
The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel (see Part 
I., 409), says Nimrod, are no longer extant, hav- 
ing been for some reason or other omitted from 
the canon by the restorers of the Temple, lii. 
362. Josephus, in, his Antiquit, lib. 8, writes, 
That Solomon composed Books of Songs, 1005; 
of Parables and Similitudes, 3000 books; and 
that he disputed of every kind of plant, as in 
like manner of beasts, fishes, and all other liv- 
ing creatures, &c., for he was not ignorant of, 
neither did he leave unexamined any being or 
nature, but philosophized of all things, emi- 
nently expounding their nature and properties, 
&c. And Eusebius writes, that these Books of 
Solomon's proverbs and songs wherein he dis- 
coursed of the nature of plants and of all kinds 
of animals, as also of medicine or the curing of 















diseases, were removed out of the way hy Heze^ 
K kiahy because the people did thence seek the cur- 

V ing of their diseases without recourse to God 

0:y \j ^^ (that is, to the priests) for the same :— so that it 
was a matter of almost equal indifference to a 
Hebrew whether he forged or destroyed one of 
the Books called sacred. It is a matter of won- 
der, however, that they left so much in the Old 
Testament as proves that it cannot be an in- 
spired work, and that its writers generally had 
only the lowest notions of the Supreme. Take, 
for instance, that miserable account of the enter- 
tainment of the Trinity by Abraham given in 
Gen. xviii. 8, on which the Bishop of Ely, in the 
Speaker's Commentary, is obliged thus to write: 
That spiritual visitants, though in human form, 
W should eat, has been a puzzle to many commenta- 

^ tors. Josephus and Philo say, it was in appear- 

c^xrx^ ance only. If the Angels had assumed human 
hodies though but for a time, there would have 
been nothing strange in their eating. In case the 
food may have been consumed miraculously or 
not: and the eating of it was a proof that the 
visit of the angels to Abraham was no mere 
vision, but a true manifestation of heavenly be- 
ings!! The reverend Bishop does not tell us 
where the Angels, or the Trinity rather, found 
these bodies which they assumed, or what they 
did with them when their mission was completed ; 
nor does he say why they assumed three hungry 
bodies at all. He does not seem to be in the least 
aware that to connect ideas of eating and drink- 
ing and digestion with the Celestial, is ignorance 
if not blasphemy; and he asks us to swallow 
down the whole fable of abomination as if it 
were really true. Let us now hear what is said 



Immanence of God 69 11 111 

by the Reverend Dr. Chalmers as to the majesty 
ot the Universe whereof this mighty Spirit is 
Lord and Maker. After expatiating on the 
heights and depths explored, and the wonders 
unfolded by the telescope and microscope he 
observes that the splendour and variety of the 
Universe would suffer as little by the anniUla- 
tton of a world like ours, and all that inherit 
It, as the verdue and sublime magnitude of the 
forest would suffer by the destruction of a 
single leaf and the myriads which inhabit its 
of 1 ^^^ .^"^ TT^? continues : Now, on the grand 
scale ot the Universe, we the occupiers of this 
ball, which performs its little round among the 
suns and systems which astronomy has unfolded 
may feel the same littleness and the same inse- 
curity as the meanest of those insects. We differ 
irom_ the leaf only in this circumstance, that we 
require the operation of greater elements to de- 
stroy us-and these elements exist. And yet it 
li ,J% contemptible atom in Infinite Space 
that the God who made this almost boundless 
Universe, with its millions of spheres, filled with 
countless myriads of living and glorious Spirits 
IS supposed to have assumed human shape, to' 
have digested veal with Abraham, and broiled 
fish with Peter, to have spent many years mend- 
ing chairs and tables for the Jew furniture brok- 
ers of Jerusalem, and finally to have died a death 
ot shame and agony on the cross, between a cou- 
ple of thieves ! Those who believe with Darwin 
that they are really but apes and monkeys, may 
have this degraded view of God-no othere can 
Upon this man, I insert the following observa- 
tions, taken from the Commentary, and which 
are about the only valuable ones which it eon- 














tains: On the question of man's direct crea- 
tion, it says, in distinction to the hypothesis of 
development, and on his original position as a 
civilized being, not as a wild barbarian, we may 
remark, firstly, it is admitted, even by the theo- 
rists themselves that in the present state of the 
evidence the records beneath the earth's surface 
give no suport to the hypothesis, that every spe- 
cies grew out of some species less perfect before 
it. There is not an unbroken chain of continuity. 
At times, new and strange forms suddenly ap- 
pear upon the stage of life, with no previous 
intimation of their coming. Secondly; In those 
creatures, in which instinct seems most fully 
developed, it is impossible that it should have 
grown by cultivation and successive inheritance. 
In no animal is it more observable than in the 
bee ; but the working bee only has the remarka- 
ble instinct of building and honey-making so 
peculiar to its race; it does not inherit that in- 
stinct from its parents, for neither the drone 
nor the queen-bee builds or works; it does not 
hand it down to its posterity, for itself is sterile 
and childless. Mr. Darwin has not succeeded 
in replying to this argument. Thirdly. CivU- 
ization, as far as all expedience goes, has always 
hee7i learned from without. No extremely bar- 
barous nation has ever yet been found capable 
of imitating civilization. Retrogression is rapid, 
but progress unlmown, until the first steps have 
been taught. (Se5 Abp. Whately, 'Origin of 
Civilization/ the argument of which has not 
been refuted by Sir John Lubbock, * Prehistoric 
Man.') Moreover, almost all harbarous races, 
if not wholly without tradition, believe them- 
selves to have been once in a more civilized state, 





to have come from a more favoured land, to have 
descended from ancestors more enlightened and 
powerful than themselves. Fourthly. Though 
it has been asserted without any proof that man, 
when greatly degenerate, reverts to the type of 
the monkey, just as domesticated animals revert 
to the wild type; yet the analogy is imperfect 
and untrue. Man undoubtedly, apart from en- 
nobling influences, degenerates, and losing more 
and more of the image of his Maker, becomes 
more closely assimilated to the brute creation, 
the earthly nature overpowering the spiritual. 
But that this is not natural to him is shewn by 
the fact, that under such conrlitions of degen- 
eracy, the race gradually becomes enfeeljled, and 
at length dies out; whereas the domesticated ani- 
mal, which reverts to the type of the wild ani- 
mal, instead of fading away, becomes only the 
more powerful and the more prolific. The wild 
state is natural to the brutes, but the civilized is 
natural to man. Even if the other parts of the 
Darwinian hypothesis were demonstrable, there 
is not a restige of evidence that there ever existed 
any beast intermediate between apes and men. 
Apes too are by no means the nearest to us in 
intelligence or moral sense, or in their food or 
other habits. It also deserves to be borne in 
mind, that even if it could be made probable 
that man is only an improved ape, no physiolog- 
ical reason can touch the question, whether Grod 
did not, when the improvement reached its right 
point, breathe into him * * a living soul, ' ' a spirit 
which goeth upward, when bodily life ceases. 
This at least would have constituted Adam a new 
creature, and the fountain-head of a new race. 
**The Speaker's Commentary'' has been re- 
viewed in a recent number of the Gott. Oel. 












72 Booh of Notes 

Anzeigen, by Professor Ewald. I subjoin some 
extracts from his article:— ''We have in these 
volumes general introductions to the Pentateuch, 
and in particular to Genesis, then to Exodus and 
Leviticus, and so on. But there is no trace of any 
exact knowledge of the extent and value of the 
investigations and results of our modern science 
on this difficidt grou7id. Nay, what is worse, the 
plan and character, as here exhibited, of the in- 
quiry into so complicated a subject, are destitute 
of all scientific impulse and elevation. Thus, 
the question whether Moses is the author of the 
Pentateuch or not plants itself before the au- 
thors at the very, threshold of the investigation, 
like a monster which guards the door with 
furious gestures, and threatens to swallow up 
any one who will move a foot over the entrance 
with the view of penetrating into the house. 
Our science has long recognized that, in an 
historical point of view, nothing can be more 
groundless, and, at the same time, nothing in the 
matter itself more prejudicial to our certain 
knowledge of things, than to propound, in so 
coarse and rough a fashion, and so stiffly set up, 
this question whether Moses composed the Pen- 
tateuch as it stands during his lifetime, and then 
to make the credit of this book, and, by conse- 
quence, of the Bible also, dependent on the an- 
swer to this question. ... It is also in pursu- 
ance of such an unscientific science that the en- 
tire dissertation on the Pentateuch is in this 
work reduced to three heads— (1) an attempt 
on the author's part to shew that Moses coidd 
have written the Pentateuch (but what coidd not 
Moses have done, and what caji not every one do 
even now, according to the unfounded presuppo- 




Immanence of God 



sitions which have been entertained of him?) ; 
and then a collection of (2) external and (3) 
internal testimonies to prove that he actually 
composed it, which is adduced without any seri- 
ous reflection that not one of these desiderated 
testimonies actually establishes what it is brought 
to prove/' Afterwards the critic proceeds: — 
*^We can, in conclusion, only sincerely lament 
that the great majority of the clergymen of the 
English Episcopal Church in our day are so lit- 
tle disposed to comprehend the Bible more cor- 
rectly, and apply it as the Reformers did. Many 
excellent clergymen, he says, understood this. 
*'But until the great majority of the clergy rise 
to a better spirit, all must proceed in these dark 
and unfruitful paths, without any security that 
sooner or later a sudden and all-destroying storm 
shall not hurst forth, and overtake both the spir- 
itual leaders and those whom they guide on these 
desolate paths, and hopelessly overwhelm them/' 



YOU CANNOT SERVE GOD (SELF) AND 
MAMMON. 

Note 30. 

What does a successful life mean to you ? Have 
you ever thought carefully and precisely whether 
it was not your duty to learn something more 
about Life, Health, Success and self (God), than 
what the church tells you ? Does a religious and 
successful life represent in your mind the saying, 
and saying, of babbling prayers to an unknown 
God— and nothing else? Would you consider 
you had led a successful life if by following 
creeds and Dogmatic teachings you had gained 














fame as a religious man, and in the process, had 
lost your health, and undermined your physical 
and mental well being ? 

Would the fame gained, compensate you for 
the loss of knowledge and appreciation of the 
real God (Self) ? The loss of the power of self 
(God) your divine possibilities. **No,'* you re- 
ply, ''that is not my ideal or expectation of a re- 
ligious and successful life; I wish to know God 
(Self) as a means to a healthy, strong and 
Peaceful life-— not as the end in ''eternal dam- 
nation.'' That is a sensible, excellent and very 
proper reply— it represents the ideal estimation 
of Self (God)— to teach men and women that 
they are "The Temple of The Living God''— 
teach them to apply the great underlying prin- 
ciples and power of God (Self) to their own 
sphere of endeavor— to have "unbounded faith" 
and true confidence and belief in Self (God) — 
to ama^s sufficient "faith in God (Self), to se- 
cure freedom from disease, poverty and the ad- 
versities of life— and to preserve life— and to 
gain health and strength and character, in the 
process of living a successful life. 

A successful life then must be defined by : 

"The amassing of sufficient 'faith' in God 
(Self) to give freedom from disease and prema- 
ture death; and the use of the power of God 
(Self), so secured, toward the prolonging of life, 
and the gaining of health— and assisting our 
brothers and sisters. 

To endeavor to attain this modest, ideal suc- 
cessful life will not dwarf soul and body as does 
belief in ancient Jewish Myths and teachings of 
dogmas— it will develop and greatly strengthen 
men and women. The ideal life of this commer- 






cial age dwarfs soul and body— the natural ideal, 
life, destitute of the curses of greed, selfishness 
and superstition and dogmas, learns one to gain 
health, character and soul 's satisfaction. 

Greed, selfishness, superstition and vanity- 
force men and women to sacrifice life, health and 
mental ease. The curse, the pity of it— the sor- 
row and suffering of ignorance and superstition 
—souls blasted and shriveled by the consuming 
desire and instinct of the gold-hunting hordes of 
to-day. How many men and women in com- 
mercial life are struggling and striving; clutch- 
ing each other's throats for the favors of Mam- 
mon—only to find their malignant God (gold), 
unpropitiated by their idolatry, has with sinister 
shrewdness and cunning— atrophized their body 
and soul— stifled their belief in self (God), until 
nothing but the instinct of greed for gold burns 
within them— the all controlling, all consuming 
instinct built up, remaining with Hellish per- 
versity UNSATISFIED. 



URINALYSIS BY QUACKS. 

From ^^The Columhics Medical Journal/' 

Note 31. 

According to the Journal of the American 
Medical Association, a man by the name of J. 
Locher, in Germany, advertises himself as an 
urine specialist. He solicits the people to send 
him specimens of urine, which he pretends to 
analyze, and by his analysis he also pretends to 
diagnose any disease that the sender may hap- 
pen to be afflicted with. 

In order to test this pretender's real ability 



tf 




11 



'"^^^ 



Book of Notes 



to analyze urine, four German students sent this 
J. Locher four separate vials of beer, labeled 
urine, and asked for his diagnosis. 

The pretender did not discover the cheat, but 
proceeded to make the diagnosis and each of the 
four students received a letter informing him 
that he had a catarrhal affection of the stomach, 
abdomen and throat, and they were each one ad- 
vised to buy his remedy for catarrh. 

I was not aware that such things were going 
on in Germany. In this country I fear such 
procedures are quite common. I have known 
of several, and judging from advertisements 
which I read here and there, I expect there are 
many more. 

In my opinion, a person who practices a 
fraud like this is entitled to the limit of the law. 
He ought to be put in the penitentiary at hard 
labor. If there is any man in the world who is 
thoroughly depraved it is a man who will prey 
upon the infirmities of other people, practice 
any sort of fraud in order to obtain a patient. 
Every such scoundrel ought to be captured and 
compelled behind prison bars to earn his living 
in a respectable way, until he is willing to take 
his place in society as a useful and helpful 
member of it. 

Unfortunately, the quacks are not all con- 
fined to the irregulars. We have them sailing 
under the guise of health boards. Many and 
many a time the absurd pretenses of these 
health boards have been exposed. 

The health boards pretend to be able by ex- 
amining a specimen of sputum to determine 
whether or not the sputum was obtained from 
the throat of a person afflicted with diphtheria. 



li t 



la 








Immanence of God 



In order to test them a doctor took some sputum 
from a dog's throat, a perfectly healthy dog, 
and they made the diagnosis of diphtheria. 

In times past I have sent to health boards 
specimens of milk and other specimens, for 
analysis, and received the most absurd opinions. 

In my opinion, the whole pretense that a re- 
liable diagnosis can be made by a laboratory 
examination is a fraud. No doubt many of 
those connected with such places are sincere in 
supposing that their findings are reliable data. 
But the number of mistakes that are inevitable 
makes such judgments of no worth whatever. 

Every tinge of fraud ought to be eliminated 
from the practice of the healing arts. A man 
who would practice fraud in any degree while 
pretending to heal the sick, by whatever method, 
is a man who is entitled to the contempt of 
everybody and richly deserves the severest pen- 
alty. There is no species of criminal so despic- 
able as that pretender who makes believe he is 
trying to heal some one when he is simply heel- 
ing himself. 

SUGGESTIVE THERAPEUTICS. 

From ^'The CoUimhus Medical JournaV 

Note 32. 

Every doctor is practicing suggestive thera- 
peutics, consciously or unconsciously. The man 
who gives drugs in good faith, and is enthu- 
siastic in the belief that the drugs are going to 
benefit his patient, is unconsciously practicing 
suggestive therapeutics. The patient is in- 
spired by the faith of the doctor. The confi- 



n 





^rsA^^,^ 



li 






^ 



i.UUJ 




^ 



78 



Book of Notes 



dence of the doctor, his exuberance and un- 
bounded belief in his remedies, cannot fail to 
diffuse a somewhat similar effect to the patient. 

Now, in fact, the medicines may not do the 
patient any good whatever. The patient feels 
the effect of the drugs. They may operate ex- 
actly as the doctor said they would, yet their 
operation may even do the patient harm, so far 
as their physical eft'ects are concerned. And 
yet the expectancy the doctor has created in the 
mind of the patient that the drugs will make 
him better, may more than counteract the bad 
effect the drugs have had. Even in cases where 
the drugs operate beneficially on the patient, 
the effect that the wise physician has produced 
on the mind of his patient is no small item in the 
cure. 

A half-hearted physician, who prescribes his 
remedies in a listless way, or who hesitates and 
appears to be in a doubtful frame of mind, can- 
not expect to benefit his patient as much as a 
doctor who thoroughly believes in his remedies. 

There are some doctors so honest and con- 
scientious that they cannot play the part of de- 
ception, even in a small way. They must be- 
lieve in their remedies, in order to inspire con- 
fidence in the patient. They cannot pretend to 
believe in something they really do not. 

Such doctors are in an unfortunate state of 
mind, and cannot expect very much success in 
the practice of the healing arts. There are a 
great many of them practicing medicine. They 
have lost faith in drugs. They prescribe them 
only because they do not know anything else to 
do. Their manner of prescribing, the things 
they say to their patient, all tend to discourage 



^. 




the patient. Such doctors may have an excel- 
lent medical education. May be perfectly com- 
petent to diagnose disease and compound medi- 
cines. But because there is a want of faith on 
their own part they fail to mingle with their 
practice the wholesome practice of suggestive 
therapeutics. 

I often hear doctors say something like this: 
**Why is it I do not succeed in the practice of 
medicine? Now there were Dr. D. and Dr. C, 
who graduated in the same class I did. I am 
sure I was a better student than they were. 
And yet they succeed where I cannot." 

I never fail to reply to such a doctor by say- 
ing to him something like the above remarks. 
On inquiry I discover that the doctor has partly 
lost his faith in drugs. His want of faith has 
reacted upon himself, and he is not able to con- 
ceal from his patient the fact that he has little 
or no faith. 

The half -educated doctor is more apt to have 
unbounded confidence in his skill than the really 
educated doctor. His enthusiasm more than 
makes up for his want of knowledge of drugs. 
He tells his patients invariably that he can cure 
them. That he has got a specific remedy for 
their ailments. He prescribes in a swinging 
way, prophesies what the result will be without 
hesitation, and unconsciously practices sugges- 
tive therapeutics. He believes in himself, and 
that inspires the belief of others in him. 

When the drug doctors sneer at suggestive 
therapeutics, the probabilities are they do not 
know what they are sneering at. When I tell 
them they are practicing suggestive thera- 
peutics themselves, they meet my assertion with 













fvr-^l 




T 



~f1 

Ml 



Book of Notes 



indignant denial. A little conversation, how- 
ever, is sufficient to convince them that there is 
an element of suggestion in every case they 
treat, although they are not willing generally to 
admit that the element of suggestion is so im- 
portant as I am inclined to believe. 

Those who practice suggestive therapeutics 
without the use of drugs are liable to the same 
failures that drug doctors are, and from the 
same cause. A man who practices solely sug- 
gestive therapeutics may not believe in himself. 
He may secretly think that he is flim-flamming 
his patients. In such cases he will fail to do 
very much good. 

That doctor is successful who thoroughly be- 
lieves in his own remedies, he may practice 
drugless healing or drug healing, he may prac- 
tice Christian Science or magnetic healing, he 
may practice Homeopathy or Osteopathy, but 
if he thoroughly believes in himself, if he con- 
scientiously supposes that his remedy is going 
to bring about a cure, he is very likely to suc- 
ceed. He certainly will succeed much better 
than the doctor who has no faith in himself. 

The ideal doctor is one who believes in sug- 
gestive therapeutics, as well as drug therapeu- 
tics. Such a doctor does not believe that he is 
flim-flamming his patient when he inspires him 
with confidence and hope. Such a doctor does 
not think it beneath him to produce favorable 
mental impressions upon his patient, as well as 
drug effects helpful to the case. 

What difference is it whether a patient is 
healed through medicine introduced into his 
stomach, or through thoughts introduced into 
his mind ? If the effect of the thoughts is favor- 



Immanence of God 

able upon his physical organism, it is just as 
scientific, it is just as honest to bring about a 
cure in that way as to produce a drug effect 
which may react favorably upon the patient. 

Every one ought to practice suggestive ther- 
apeutics. Every one should persist in saying 
the cheerful thing, the hopeful thing. It is bet- 
ter not to talk of discouraging things, to recite 
ailments or enumerate symptoms. This is sug- 
gestive therapeutics. The day is coming when 
it will be considered immoral for people to say 
things or write things that discourage other 
people. 

I am treating many patients by correspond- 
ence. Some patients I am able to cure. Some 
I am not. If I can get a patient to agree that 
he will quit talking of himself, that he will leave 
off talking of his own sickness, that he will go 
on exactly as if he were well, and refuse to say 
anything about it to any one, think only well 
thoughts and say only health things, hopeful 
things ; when I get a patient to agree to do that 
much for himself, I am generally successful in 
doing the rest. 

Suggestive therapeutics! We all ought to 
have more of it. The only hope for the progress 
of the healing arts is more suggestive ther- 
apeutics, conscientiously practiced and persist- 
ently adhered to. 



MEDICAL DISCOVERIES. 

From ^^The Cohimbus Medical Journal/' 

Note 33. 

I have always contended that most of the med- 
ical discoveries that are of any real value, were 




made by the people, and not by the learned 
physicians. The people find things, find their 
worth. The doctors, in their association with 
the people, notice their successes and adopt 
them, and they become the property of the 
learned profession. 

It is wise on the part of the physicians to do 
this way, were it not for the fact that when they 
have appropriated the good things the people 
have discovered they put on airs as if they were 
the real discoverers. 

They even go so far as to make laws prevent- 
ing the people from using the very things that 
J^ they have discovered among themselves. They 
would not allow them to use the remedies that 
experience has taught them the value of. They 
would compel those very people who have made 
all of the discoveries worth making to come to 
them every time they need any medicine, pay 
them a fee for writing a prescription, then go to 
the drug store and pay another fee to get the 
medicine. That is the way the doctors would 
like to have it. 

The value of quinine was discovered by the 
South American Indians, and had been in use 
a great many years before the physicians knew 
anything about it. 

Speaking on this subject, Oliver Wendell 
Holmes, one of the greatest of American physi- 
cians, said: 

^ ' Medicine appropriates everything from 
every source that ( an be of the slightest use to 
anybody who is ailing in any way, or is likely to 
be ailing from any cause. It learned from a 
monk how to use antimony, from a Jesuit how to 
cure agues, from a friar how to cut for stone, 



1 




from a soldier how to treat gout, from a sailor 
how to keep off scurvy, from a postmaster how 
to sound the eustachian tube, from a dairy maid 
how to prevent smallpox. It stands ready to 
accept anything from any theorist, from any 
empiric who can make out a good case for his 
discovery or his remedy.'-' 








TT^ 



SMALLPOX STATISTICS. 

From ^'The Columbus Medical JournaU^ 

Note 34. 

If I were to make a guess it would be this: 
That if statistics were accurately kept, it would 
be found that more people die from the direct 
results of vaccination than die from smallpox. 
Smallpox is not a very fatal disease. Neither 
is vaccination. They both have their liabilities, 
however. If it were not for the fact that physi- 
cians are directly interested in padding the 
death rate of smallpox, and in squelching the 
bad results of vaccination, I guess we would dis- 
cover that vaccination is a far more formidable 
enemy to human life than is smallpox. 

There is another difference in favor of small- 
pox. That it leaves the system in good condi- 
tion, whereas vaccination does not. It is a nota- 
ble fact that those who have had a run of small- 
pox find themselves unusually well for many 
years, while those who have had a tussle with 
vaccination are apt to find themselves more or 
less invalids for the rest of their lives. 

All this, I believe, would be revealed if we 
could have accurately kept statistics. But we 
cannot have accurate statistics. We need not 



(^^ 

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look for any such thing as long as the doctors 
are pecuniarily interested in establishing the 
benefits of vaccination, without any reference 
as to whether it helps the people or not. 










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